Enough School Already!

So today I read this in the news, basically saying that Obama wants to extend the school day and the school year. Now, maybe I haven't been out of high school long enough to develop a "proper adult perspective" on the matter, (Have you noticed that the longer people have been out of school the more supportive they are of changes in the school system? They seem to forget that back when they were in school, high school math ended at Algebra.) but I am so sick of them trying to hack away at the school year.

I am not for year round schooling, mostly because if we did year round schooling our camp and travel economy would be screwed. Children's summer camps would go out of business, people wouldn't be able to visit their families, and teenagers wouldn't be able to get summer jobs. All of those activities are great learning activities, and yes, you can learn outside of school. We had that opportunity, so did our parents, and their parents, why do we want to deny our children the opportunity to work if they want to buy their own car? Or the ability to go to band camp, or just enjoy time at home relaxing. Hey, maybe our obesity rate would go down? Who knows?

I had friends who took the bus to school that caught the bus at 5:45 to get to school at 7:30, and when school got out at 3:00 would then get on the bus and not get home until close to 5:00. What would happen to them if the school day was extended? Not getting home till 5:00, meant that they ate dinner and then spent two to three hours on homework a night, and then went straight to bed. Family time? Forget it. Time to socialize? Like hell. So now they would get home at 7:00, eat, do homework, and get to bed later? Yeah that's going to help their grades improve. Lack of sleep= success.

Parents seem to really be into this whole no time for kids to live thing. Something about kids being so busy that they don't have time to get into drugs, and negative influences. Caffeine is a drug people. One me and my friends desperately needed to get through high school. The drugs are just shifting. The kids who have a lot of pressure on them to do really well in school and do lots of after school activities take aderall, no doze, and steroids. The kids that don't either get into other things, drink because they are stressed, or just flat out skip school to do drugs. (Yes, children do drugs on campus, so maybe we shouldn't lock them on campus for 50 hours a week) Why do we want our kids to be at school longer than we are at work? 7:45-3:15 is a seven hour day already! Add homework to that and our kids are working overtime. Extending the day by two to three hours is not going to make it better.

Plus it won't actually help. Until they improve the seven hours they've got, adding more time is just going to make more stressed and angry children. If Obama really wants to help with education, and the economy, he'll create more jobs. Let's cut the student teacher ratio from 30:1, to 10:1. Of course to do that we'll need to build more schools, and add more faculty... hmm sounds like lot's of new jobs to me! What do you think would help more? Extending the school day, or giving your child 3 times more educational attention?

Ooh, another job opportunity that also addresses the health care issue. Clinics in schools. Sick kids can work on their assignments away from the student body, get their immunizations, be assessed for illnesses, and receive health care. Two birds, one stone. Lot's and lots more medical jobs, and health care for our children.

We could also keep technology in the schools current, and make sure their school books are up to date, and feed the kids better food in the cafeteria. Maybe include breakfast? Wow! More jobs. Of course that would cost lots of money, but our President has no qualms spending lots and lots of money.

Alright, end rant, it just sort of sucks that I'm going to have to either homeschool my daughter or send her to private school if I ever want to see her.