President suggests longer school sessions for students

[2000Cadet]

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?)

With all due respect Mike, this is a hotbutton issue. You should have expected some dialogue like this when it comes to people's children. It's almost like healthcare.

But to answer one of your questions, I think it may be a little premature to worry about this. There is a ton of other problems that need to be handled first. And since you don't want us to go into a tangent, I won't discuss them. I would assume that extending the school year would cause some sort of problem for Drum Corps.

[JohnZ]

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?)

FOLKS!

For what it is worth, I've been getting nervous about where this thread continues to tread. Mike has made some very legitimate and relevant questions for consideration as this relates to our activity, and has asked twice now to steer back to drum corps related discussion.

If you can do that, and I believe you all can, I am inclined to leave it open - although other moderators may not be as patient.

If it can't in the next few posts, we will have no choice but to take Mike's post as his request to close.

capiche?

danke!

annnnd....GO!

[HockeyDad]

President Obama suggests students need to stay in school longer.

Much research has showed that American students are falling behind their counterparts around the world. Are longer school days or longer semesters the answer? The reason I'm asking this is due to the first paragraph in this article. If summer vacations are shortened, what impact (if any) could that have on our activity?

Some other questions:

1) Do you agree students should spend more time in school?

2) How about if that affects drum corps?

3) If longer school terms became the norm, would drum corps essentially become more of a college student activity?

4) Is this something we need to be concerned about, or is it premature to assume it would/could happen?

While this is a suggestion/proposal by a political office holder, please, let's not let this thread turn political, because it would get closed.

I'm mostly wondering what we should anticipate in case this becomes the norm.

C'mon - how can you post something like this and NOT think the responses would become political / heated? You kind of brought it on yourself, IMO. Obviously, a longer school year would negatively affect the amount of practice time for drum corps. How could there be any different answer? OR, you push high school kids out of drum corps.

[Tom Brace]

President Obama suggests students need to stay in school longer.

Much research has showed that American students are falling behind their counterparts around the world. Are longer school days or longer semesters the answer? The reason I'm asking this is due to the first paragraph in this article. If summer vacations are shortened, what impact (if any) could that have on our activity?

Some other questions:

1) Do you agree students should spend more time in school?

2) How about if that affects drum corps?

3) If longer school terms became the norm, would drum corps essentially become more of a college student activity?

4) Is this something we need to be concerned about, or is it premature to assume it would/could happen?

While this is a suggestion/proposal by a political office holder, please, let's not let this thread turn political, because it would get closed.

I'm mostly wondering what we should anticipate in case this becomes the norm.

This has probably been said already, but since the DCI season doesn't really get started until the end of June and is over by the second weekend in August, any moves to lengthen the school year will not have much affect at all.

[Michael Boo]

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.

I don't see politics involved in the original proposal. Being that making the school year longer would possibly/likely invoke a negative reaction from a segment of society and might not be popular, I have to think he mentioned it because he genuinely believes it would help.

But whether or not that is true, my main interest is wondering how such a change would affect drum corps and what we could do in anticipation just in case it came to be.

Our oversight is not having a drum corps person in the cabinet.

[Michael Boo]

With all due respect Mike, this is a hotbutton issue. You should have expected some dialogue like this when it comes to people's children. It's almost like healthcare.

And that's exactly why I've spelled out what elements of the reactions I wanted to hear in reaction to posting the original link and what would result if this thread got derailed.

[SynthLine09]

I believe he is talking about the level of education, not the level of drum corp... which most already agree on.

I consider drum corps a large part of my music education.

I dont think it has anything to do with the teachers and everything with the kids being conditioned to be lazy these days. And they all have short attention spans thanks to facebook, youtube, and pop songs that last no longer than 3 minutes.

[Michael Boo]

C'mon - how can you post something like this and NOT think the responses would become political / heated? You kind of brought it on yourself, IMO. Obviously, a longer school year would negatively affect the amount of practice time for drum corps. How could there be any different answer? OR, you push high school kids out of drum corps.

As I wrote in the reply just above this one, I clearly spelled out from the beginning and repeated more than once what the "rules" were for this thread.

It's an important issue and I believe we CAN discuss it without going political. But we've got to choose to do so.

If some don't think it should be discussed, turning it into a political argument would achieve the goal of it not being discussed.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Michael Boo

[Michael Boo]

I consider drum corps a large part of my music education.

Wow. It sure was a part of my education as well. And I have no question it made me a better student. I had to learn to ration my time so I could do everything. My grades went up the more I was involved because I didn't want to lose out on my drum corps experience. I even took twelve hours of classes during the summer to make up for credits I lost when I transferred before I became a senior and I still didn't miss a single weeknight rehearsal or weekend show. (This was when many corps still stayed in their region until the end of the season.) And I got great grades during that summer session because I was so focused on making sure drum corps wouldn't interfere with my schooling, and vice versa.

I believe kids today are just as dedicated and I hope they still get a chance to do things that are challenging to their schedule, because drum corps really does make someone a better person and teaches responsibility, time management and citizenship, among many other things.

[kickhaltsforlife]

This has probably been said already, but since the DCI season doesn't really get started until the end of June and is over by the second weekend in August, any moves to lengthen the school year will not have much affect at all.

Spring training starts mid may for a lot of corps... reason why the Cadets probably have the most trouble out of the top corps to get people to come out... schools around this area go until middle or late June. Even in Texas schools went a week later, it's why the Crossmen started after memorial day this year. So maybe it won't have too much of an impact... lets just hope that these school over here in the mid-atlantic add on to the beginning of the school year.. cause for drum corps there is at least two weeks of breathing room.