UPDATE: Correction at bottom of post
Now this is getting ridiculous. From the Boston Globe:
More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation
Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.
Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.
"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.
"Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
As for the agrarian comment -- students are in school when most fields are being prepped and planted and students are back in school when most harvests take place. Up here, we are in the middle of the corn harvest, the berry harvest is just winding down and the apple harvest is just gearing up. Students have been in school for three weeks. See below...
As for the longer school time, how about making the schools better.
I posted this graph from Mark Perry before here: But if we throw more money at it
The teachers union only serves to protect the teachers, it does nothing to advance the quality of education. Another example of a Union that is well passed its prime. Pournelle's Iron Law again...
Jen just read this post -- her family farms in California and it is not uncommon for schoolkids there to miss a month of school during fall harvest. The need for the time off is known and accepted by the teachers.
She also mentioned that lengthening the school year is something that has been floating around for some time -- it is not unique to Obama.
