President suggests longer school sessions for students

[Octavarium]

You know what I would say to him saying we are falling behind our counterparts? Watch an American drum corps, then watch an international drum corps

despite this being a drum corps forum, this is irrelevant. Our football teams are better too... does that make our students better at math? Nope.

[soccerguy315]

While I think your opinion is PARTIALLY correct, I think that the larger reason why our students are failing behind many other countries in education is because teachers A) do not get the proper funding/support from the govt, and B) do not get the proper support from parents. There is a culture in our country that education is not valued (as it is in many other countries), and parents nor students take public education as serious as their Asian and European counterparts. Teachers in Japan, for example, are given HUGE respect and parents wouldn't even think about questioning their judgement or actions. In America, people have similar naive opinions as the one above (i.e. the write off education completely as "too many bad teachers" instead of voting for tax increases that better pay for education and/or teach their children to have responsibility for their education), and foster bad education habbits to their children. I agree that there are issues with our education system, but they come from ALL sides, not just 'bad teachers keeping their jobs.'

I did say that the education system was broken. That said, I agree COMPLETELY with your view that education is not prioritized by parents (as a collective group) the way it should be. The problem with national programs like NCLB is that they are not tailored to the individual needs of the community. And then, if the schools don't meet the standards, they lose money. How are they going to get better if you take away their money???? It doesn't make any sense.

I didn't mean to blame it all on teachers. Personally, I was fortunate to have very good teachers. I grew up in a fairly wealthy area, and 20 years teaching earns you $75,000/year with your summers off. Not a bad pay rate. However, there are some bad teachers who are protected by their unions. They are saving jobs, but hurting the children. Also, NYC schools are paying some teachers $100,000/year to not teach. They are on probation or having their cases reviewed while making full salary. The system of protecting teachers is part of the problem in the educational system, but there is only so much the teacher can do. The rest is the parents / culture. If a student doesn't learn their multiplication tables from September - June, they are not going to learn them by going to school in July. That is why I think better use of the time should be the solution, and not more time doing what doesn't work.

I couldn't disagree with you any more. The standards are fine. We just cannot get the kids to reach those standards, because they don't care.

They don't care because they aren't held to the standards, which makes the actual standards lower than advertised, IMO. There are a fair number of people playing Division I sports in college, especially football / basketball, that don't care about school at all and can barely string together a coherent sentence. 99% of them will not make the professional league, so what do they do with their 1.8 GPA with a degree in "General Studies?" If high school was "you don't play the sport unless you have a certain GPA" then maybe they would take learning more seriously.

Where have I heard that before--people being rewarded for effort no matter the outcome?

hah, I thought of that while I was typing it.

[Michael Boo]

Please, folks. As I mentioned before, this is a thread to discuss the possible effects on drum corps if longer school terms became a reality.

It's not to discuss what's right or wrong with our educational system, teachers, students, parents, etc. Those are things for the Current Events forum that no longer exists for good reason.

Please keep comments about whether you think this is a possibility of happening and what it would do to drum corps if it did.

[Rusty]

1) Leave it up to the parents. If they want to see their kids in year-round school, fine.

2) See answer to #1.

3) I think it's headed that way anyway.

4) I think it might be a bit premature to start worrying. Worth pointing out this has been a concern at least since I marched in the early 1990s, and I don't know if we're any closer to seeing year-round school become a reality.

[perc2100]

So then we can get a society of complainers that rant on one of the following subjects:

1. We marched a more difficult show than yours.

2. All you did was fly and use your jetpacks, you didn't march as much as my corps.

3. My show had more GE than your show so we should have placed ahead of you.

4. Your arrangements are just bop and chop, while we actually play melody.

5. Our drumline should have won because our snare line was tickless.

6. It's just marching band.

All in good fun of course.

Ha; if they could all articulate their ideas/beliefs in a coherent manner with proper spelling and grammar, I'm ALL for it!

[dieselfume]

The bigger issue is what is going to be taught during those extra hours. If the instruction is going to be focused on reading, writing, math and critical thinking skills, it's worthwhile. If the instruction is going to be nonsense about global warming, the need for a larger "nanny" state and other aspects of the euphorian agenda, it's a farce. Government (i.e., "public") schools will alway be about indoctrination. The question is: indoctrination toward what?

.

[Piper]

I personally know a kindergarten teacher who has to deal with kids (40 to a class) some of whom don't even know what their own names are, and I am not making this up. If a parent can't take the time to teach a 3 or 4 year old what their own kids name is, or that peas are green and corn is yellow then I feel sorry for the kids, and even sorrier for Drum Corps.

[Michael Boo]

The bigger issue is what is going to be taught during those extra hours. If the instruction is going to be focused on reading, writing, math and critical thinking skills, it's worthwhile. If the instruction is going to be nonsense about global warming, the need for a larger "nanny" state and other aspects of the euphorian agenda, it's a farce. Government (i.e., "public") schools will alway be about indoctrination. The question is: indoctrination toward what?

.

Again, please see my post just above about keeping this on track.

Mods:If this keeps going off course into the political opinion realm, please close the thread at your discretion. Hopefully, that won't be necessary, because it is a really important topic for discussion.

BUT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BEHAVE! (Sheesh, did I just turn into my first grade teacher?)

Edited September 28, 2009 by Michael Boo

[Patrick_D]

Again, please see my post just above about keeping this on track.

Mods:If this keeps going off course into the political opinion realm, please close the thread at your discretion. Hopefully, that won't be necessary, because it is a really important topic for discussion.

BUT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BEHAVE! (Sheesh, did I just turn into my first grade teacher?)

The question itself is political... it has to do with the President changing something that will then cause a domino effect into Drum Corps. No offense meant, but its nearly impossible to discuss the original post without mentioning the politics which created your question to begin with.

[bill]

The junior level may revert back to weekend only drum corps at best; and that would be still in question as one would have to ascertain that year around school also means year around school activites involving weekend sports, clubs, field trips, etc., as far as high school kids.

Year around school and year around school activities means the potential loss of housing options with using school facilities.

It would also equate to a loss of show attendance as going to a drum corps show looses it's luster versus other activities that a fan may be drawn to with the limited time for liesure activities.

What do they do, a whole family go to a ball game and get nose bleed cheap seats and create a positive outing, or a picnic; or travel and spend funds on a show maybe the whole family may not enjoy?

I bet the Obama would not be so "hip" on this idea if he was still in school.

Please, folks. As I mentioned before, this is a thread to discuss the possible effects on drum corps if longer school terms became a reality.

It's not to discuss what's right or wrong with our educational system, teachers, students, parents, etc. Those are things for the Current Events forum that no longer exists for good reason.

Please keep comments about whether you think this is a possibility of happening and what it would do to drum corps if it did.

Edited September 28, 2009 by bill