> At 04:43 PM 4/5/01 +0000, Justin wrote:
> >problems
of
> >low scholastic acheivement of people raised in poverty by illiterate
> >parents, who have no job prospects and no future, whose friends or
> >girlfriends are pregnant at 14 and whose friends or boyfriend are in jail
> at
> >16, to make the school year longer? --jks
>
> No, but it would substantially reduce the negative impact of these
> environments on kids at a rather low cost. It is like malaria drugs -
> surely they do not eliminate unhealthy environment, but they substantially
> reduce the risk of getting sick and are quite cheap.
>
> So if the choice is between a radical but expensive (=difficut to
> implement) or a provisional but cheap (=easy to implement) solution - my
> answer is "the latter." "Better" is often the worst enemy of "good" - as
> history documented time and again.
>
> wojtek
>
There has been some research and scholarly discussion on the question of extending the school day and school year, and it might be worthwhile to actually look at some of it. A number of months ago, The Century Foundation ran an on-line dialogue on the subject, moderated by Ruy Teixeira, and including Richard Rothstein, one of the more clear-minded and progressive of educational policy wonks. Below one will find two links: (a) a policy paper summarizing research on the subject, and (b) a transcript of the dialogue.
<A HREF="http://www.ideas2000.org/issues/education/All-Day_All-Year_Schools.pdf">Click here: http://www.ideas2000.org/issues/education/All-Day_All-Year_Schools.pdf</A>
<A HREF="http://www.ideas2000.org/Online_Dialogue/aday/transcript.pdf">Click here: http://www.ideas2000.org/Online_Dialogue/aday/transcript.pdf</A>
My position is closest to that of Richard Rothstein. I think it actually is a fairly expensive reform, and with limited funds, I would be much more inclined to put them into such reforms as smaller class sizes, particularly in the earliest grades, and in improving the quality of teachers, with more professional development and better salaries. I think that a longer school day makes more sense than a longer school year, but I think that what is most essential, in either case, is that it simply doesn't extend in time what the school is already doing. When a student is falling behind academically, s/he needs different, more directed types of programs which address the learning problem/skill deficiency. Anything else begins to feel very much like a punishment for not doing well in school, and will only create resentment and lead to more failure. And in so far as the school's instructional program is deficient, more of it is not going to be any better.
Leo Casey United Federation of Teachers 260 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass --
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