We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day. That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy. That is why I’m calling for us not only to expand effective after-school programs, but to rethink the school day to incorporate more time – whether during the summer or through expanded-day programs for children who need it.
The thing about the origins of summer vacation is one of those factual tidbits that everyone knows, a useful shorthand piece of evidence to use in emphasizing how our education system hasn't changed with the times. But as Elena Silva noted in her Education Sector report on school time, it misses a key part of the story:
Time in school has been added and subtracted in many ways throughout our country’s history, although not always for obvious reasons. School schedules varied considerably by locality early in our country’s history with some schools open nearly year round and others open only intermittently. In large cities, long school calendars were not uncommon during the 19th century. In 1840, the school systems in Buffalo, Detroit, and Philadelphia were open between 251 and 260 days of the year. New York City schools were open nearly year round during that period, with only a three-week break in August. This break was gradually extended, mostly as a result of an emerging elite class of families who sought to escape the oppressive summer heat of the city and who advocated that children needed to “rest their minds.” By 1889, many cities had moved to observe the two-month summer holiday of July and August. Rural communities generally had the shortest calendars, designed to allow children to assist with family farm work, but they began to extend their school hours and calendars as the urban schools shortened theirs.
Turns out that our irrational school calendar is more a function of what was convenient for rich people than is commonly understood, which all things considered isn't surprising.
5 comments:
William Fischel's piece "Will I See You in September: An Economic Explanation for the Standard School Calendar" takes a bit of a different turn. He also disputes the notion that agriculture has anything to do with the calendar, but thinks it has more to do with allowing time for families to move to other locations/schools and still start at the same point as everybody else. And summer was the easiest time for people to move.
For whatever reason the schools are closed during the year, we need children in school, there need to be a way to keep the 'least of these' engaged verses kicking them out because they are disruptive.
More School??? Longer hours??? South Korea is extremely different culturally than America. We cannot continue to compare ourselves to homogeneous nations.
Our children need to be home with their parents. Or should I say, our parents need to spend more time with their children, rather than continually institutionalize them.
Why does our culture encourage people to have children only to rip them out of our arms when they are babies (toddlers, kids, etc.), all in the name of education and socialization? Stop nursing at one, pre-school at 3, extended kindergarten, after school care..... etc. , where are the statistics that any of this benefits our kids, family or society? Wake up parents, take back what is yours......
It is true that Koreans do well in school, but they are taught rote memory. If I have my Korean students memorize something, they will know every word and punctuation too. They do not apply what they learn to new situations, however. They are taught to think the same thoughts as their teachers. If you ask them to apply it to a new or different situation, or to analyze a problem, they can't do it. What kind of an education is that? We want our students to accelerate in applying their education.
I know there are things that need to improve and change with an American education, but is the amount of time spent in the classroom the correct answer? Is it reform to our curriculum, expectations, classroom size? I believe many factors are involved.
Unfortunately, more time at home in many cases means more time spent watching TV, playing video games, and eating junk food that the parent has to pay for (rather than inadequate food provided by the government through schools). For our nation's poorest performing students, more time at home, and more time spent with parents who themselves may have little education will NOT bring our students up in any way. Many parents have no idea what they're doing with their children, and are overly permissive, allowing their children to do whatever they want. I realize that this is not the case with all parents/children, but if "more time at home" is to be productive, then parents need to learn about what is REALLY good for their childrens' lifelong development, and TVs need to be turned off. Otherwise, it's futile.
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