<p>I was wondering what everyone else thought about this, and any other programs he's trying to push. Do you think he actually will get any of these things passed? Would schools really be improved by tacking an additional 3 hours to the school day and 2 weeks to the school year? Despite the research, I'm a bit incredulous.</p>
<p>Wait a second. The fact that the President of the United States wants school children to spend more time in school is not politicking. Rolling this in with whatever other big government paranoia you may be experiencing is inappropriate. </p>
<p>Sure, no President is perfect, but asking kids to work harder and longer is a good idea. The kids in this country are lagging in nearly every academic category. This situation deserves this kind of urgency.</p>
<p>I have absolutely no idea why you’ve decided to attack me, when I simply started a thread based off of a news article I found interesting. You really have no idea about my personal political views, and I really don’t need you trying to figure them out. While I do agree that our schools need some work, I would have to agree with Meow, in that there are much better ways to approach the problem. If anyone else has something insightful to add, I would really like to hear.</p>
<p>Hm. Longer school days could be useful if they were capable of incorporating extracurriculars. I think that would be a wiser strategy than tacking weeks onto the year. Doing so would affect areas of the country which are more rural, and still take advantage of the agriculturally oriented calendar.</p>
<p>QFMFT! If anything, those of us who aren’t being challenged by school (even after the AP classes, the dual degree and the early graduation) should be going to school less, not more. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I was able to browse the internet for a few hours a week during online classes and trips to the library I would have gained more out of 4 weeks of self-study than 2 years of high school. </p>
<p>If Obama would push merit pay like he initially campaigned for maybe he could get something accomplished in education (BTW, just about every education secretary since the '50s has been recommending longer school days, this new proposal means nothing; especially considering the complete lack of effort Obama has put into promoting it).</p>
<p>I’ve stopped listening to what Obama says because the results of his actions have never even remotely resembled what he says; this issue is a perfect example.</p>
Honestly, it sounds like you have some maturing to do. I find it truly sad that a grown adult has nothing better to do than insult a high school student via an online blog.</p>
<p>HADC10, I think that’s a really good thought. It could probably help people get more involved, the only issue I see is that it may make it harder for people to get jobs outside of school…maybe in extending the school day they could eliminate homework.</p>
<p>They need to cut the touchy-feely crap, feel-good-about-yourself crap, and the look-how-great-each-group-is-except-white-males crap. Then they’d have plenty of time for math. I really don’t need any more of my kids coming home from school and asking me “did white people ever invent anything?”</p>