Updated: 3/6/2005; 9:41:24 PM.
Urban Educ8r: A Wickerblog
This weblog is dedicated primarily to the discussion of Education issues and policies, as well as to chronicling the author's experiences as an inner-city school teacher. These days, the education discussion is too much in the hands of ignorant politicians merely doing what they need to gain re-election, and not enough in the hands of knowledgable professionals with first hand experience.
        

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Later school start sought


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/03/05

Legislation introduced Wednesday would force school systems to start classes no earlier than late August, starting this year.

The proposal would require systems to establish a start date for the school year no earlier than the last Monday in August and no later than the Wednesday after Labor Day.

As reported inthe AJC, the Georgia legislature is about to take a look at proposed legislation to set a madatory earliest start date for school systems throughout the state.  School systems would no longer be able to start in early and mid-August and many now do. The proponents of the legislation claim that it is for the benefit of families, but do not present any argument or research to support their case.

I for one am opposed to the mandatory start date. For one, the summer vacation is not disappearing  or shrinking, it is only shifting. When start dates were moved to mid August, ending dates moved to before Memorial Day. You still have 10 weeks vacation. The number of days in the school year IS mandated.  So would I rather be enjoying the great outdoors in the mild weather of June or the oppressive heat of August? I would choose June. The bill's proponents and the article claim that parents are the ones pushing for this legislation. If so, I have a hunch that is primarily economically well-off parents who want to keep sending their kids to summer camp and taking their vacations out of state. There is nothing wrong with that, and I can certainly understand their desire to coordinate their summer schedules. However, I'd be willing to bet there are just as many parents out there who would not prefer the mandated later start date, and indeed would even prefer year-round school. Such as lower-income families who typically don't send their kids off to summer camp or take expensive family vacations, and would rather their kids be off the streets during the high-crime summer months and doing something productive in school. Sadly those families don't always have the voice that the Cobb-county families cited in the article do. This legislation only takes away options for school districts and even families. (Hard to believe that this is being proposed by Republicans, typically the party of limited government.) Other draw-backs to the later start date include high schools not being able to give semester exams before the winter break. Students tend to drop things and forget them over the break, and then we expect them to come back in two weeks and cram the semester's material all over again to prepare for finals? I'm also behind our state superintendent of schools, who opposes the bill on the basis that districts would be prevented from designing creative year-round schedules that actually help children acheive. I agree with what some of the parents cited say in the article that a child's education is much more that being in school. Amen. But I don't think that's an argument for a later start date. It's an argument for shorter school days, more independent work for students, more out-of-the-classroom learning through field-work and internships and on-the-job training as part of the curriculum. But sadly there are too few people out there who are willing to be creative.


6:40:15 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Greg Wickersham.
 
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