Threat to drum corps

[fick]

Threat to drum corps

[tommyfromhowardst]

Threat to drum corps

And this is bad? Drum corps will find a way!

Edited September 28, 2009 by tommyfromhowardst

[Toby]

I see this problem affecting open class more than world class.

[Galen]

Frankly, Obama's right. We're pretty much at the bottom of major industrialiazed nations when it comes to the amount of time our kids spend in school. I can also tell you that some states are starting to do this on their own. Ohio, for instance, is planning on making their school year 2 weeks longer in the coming future.

[AlexL]

Ive gotta disagree. More time is not the answer. More QUALITY time and less wasted time is the answer, which doesnt require increasing the school year.

[John Murray]

Ive gotta disagree. More time is not the answer. More QUALITY time and less wasted time is the answer, which doesnt require increasing the school year.

Winner winner chicken dinner.

[CrunchyTenor]

IMO, schools really need to do better assessment to put students in a position to achieve. No Child Left Behind is flawed in it's thinking. High achievers are being held back as lower achievers struggle to keep up. By using assessment exams to put students in groups with the appropriate instruction they will have more success than lumping everyone into one system.

To be perfectly honest, not everyone has the aspiration to go to college, and there's nothing wrong with that. If a trade school works better for the kids who want to learn the skills for specific employment, more power to them. I'd rather see them succeed in a trade than struggle and eventually drop out of college. That's not to say that kids who have to work harder should not be afforded the opportunity to go to college. If they have the desire, and the proper teaching and coaching, more power to them, too.

The other thing is to properly compensate teachers for the time they spend acquiring the skills to do their job. It's the only way to recruit the best and retain them. I'm on the fence regarding tenure. In some cases it protects teachers from poor management; in other cases it shelters bad teachers. I think a comprehensive evaluation to identify good and bad teachers, to retain the former and eliminate the latter, would be ideal.

Regarding the effect on drum corps, I posted in the other thread about how this might see the return of a regional model. More and longer local season, shorter national tour.

Garry in Vegas

Edited September 28, 2009 by CrunchyTenor

[84skyrydr]

Personally, I see this as a way to get back to a competitve edge in the world, but I also see this as a huge mistake. The kids that need the extra help will most likely drop out. The ones struggling aren't going to want to struggle longer. More dropouts, more need for social bailouts. I understand the philosophy, but in practical terms, I don't think it will work as well as they think it will. In Iowa kids can dropout at 16 WITHOUT parental approval and there isn't a thing parents can do about it. Now tell those kids that are on the verge of dropping out that they have to go to school three more hours and one more day, YEARROUND????? I feel sorry for the travel industry. Family vacations will be during the school year if at all. Drum corps is just one more worry on top of many others. They talked about this when I was marching Sky in 84 and it still hasn't happened, so when do we really start worrying?

[drumno5]

Threat to drum corps

More hours in school, longer school year = government subsidized day care. Everyone wants to fob their personal/family responsibility for child rearing on the education system.

Parents/families need to look after their own kids, instead of complaining that the schools aren't doing a good job in loco parentis. School is not, nor can it ever be, nor should it be expected to be, a substitute for effective parental guidance.

just my $.02 fwiw - regards,

Fred O

[DAvery]

Frankly, Obama's right. We're pretty much at the bottom of major industrialiazed nations when it comes to the amount of time our kids spend in school. I can also tell you that some states are starting to do this on their own. Ohio, for instance, is planning on making their school year 2 weeks longer in the coming future.

That is not correct. Students in the US average over 1150 hours per year in school. This is more than almost every Asian country. For example, Japan averages about 1000 hours per year. Now it is true in Asian most school years are longer (by about 20-30 days), but it seems they attend school for less hours per day. It's interesting when you look at the data. It looks like most students that are below the poverty line lose skills over the 10 week summer break. Wealthier students do not lose these skills. That would make sense, most of these students attend enrichment activities during the summer. It would seem that a solution might be to provide enrichment classes during the summer for students below the poverty line.

It's interesting when you talk with people about the public school system. Almost everyone agrees it's failing. But when you ask about their school, they are quite content. Even if the school is failing according to standardized tests. I guess it's kind like having a job. Everyone likes to complain, but when it comes right down to it - they are really not that unhappy about it or they would find another job. I think this perception that has been building over the last 30 years about "our failing schools" is largely a myth. Are there schools that perform better than others? Sure, but when you start looking at funding things become clearer. Most, but not all, schools that struggle have less money than schools that perform well. Not that money is the sole reason for "failing" schools, but it plays a large part. It would seem to me, you fix the funding before you try anything else. In Ohio, the state supreme court ruled that the current model of school funding illegal almost two decades ago. No one has come up with a plan that will meet the requirements. And it probably will not happen. People makes sacrifices and move to wealthier school districts to give their children a better chance to succeed. That's why real estate prices are higher in successful school districts. "No Child Left Behind" has done more to alter real estate values than what people realize. The people that live in wealthy school districts will not favor a system that takes away the advantage they have worked for. They will not favor a system that decreases the value of their real estate.

I do think there are changes coming to the public school model that will effect drum corps. It could be the school year. In KY the school year starts at the beginning of August and they have breaks through out the year. I'm not in favor of a longer school year. The American generation that won WWII attended school much less than today. The American generation that landed a man on the moon or invented the micro chip attended school much less than today. In fact, when we compare standardized testing with other countries, we can only go back about 40 years. There was almost no standardized testing before 1970. How did the American students of the 20's or 50's stack up against other student's from around the world? We don't really know. Maybe the scores would have been the same as now, maybe better, maybe worse. Our perception of the American failing school system started with standardized testing. Standardized testing does no more to measure a student's ability than a score at a drum corps contest. Both scores are subjective in the sense they cannot possibly measure everything about that student or corps. Nuances are lost. In case you haven't figures it out - I'm not a big fan of competition.