I really wonder how much more money that'd cost. We're already facing damaging school budgets that vastly outpace most other countries. So why is it that our education system sucks?
I think slightly more classroom time - less days off (they get so many for virtually every holiday it seems) would be beneficial.
However, there are a litany of problems for our schools, and more time won't fix all the woes.
- Bad teachers that don't care to teach students
- No competition to enforce better performance by our school systems
- Lazy parents that don't care to re-enforce proper values of studying
- Not as much time dedicated to learning & studies..Lots of down time
- Too many breaks from school. It seems that kids get about 4 weeks off during the Aug-May school year for various breaks....Think that really helps?
..Among other things.
I think the fastest, best, cheapest, fix would be to privatize the school system via school vouchers. Each school has a monopoly via districts. If you can enforce competition, standards will come up. More money doesn't fix the problem, either. Utah spends almost 1/2 of what New York does on education per student, yet scores are very similar.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
