The ‘absurd’ debate about length of school year

08-16-2011

Guest blog by Mark Phillips/Washington Post

I was one of those kids who looked forward to September and the beginning of school. Yes, it used to be September, right after Labor Day, and there’s something still strange to me about school resuming in mid-August, as it does here in Marin, California. Summer was long and a time of free play, odd jobs, and no morning alarm clock. But the start of the new school year was filled with anticipation. I liked learning. I liked being back with lots of kids. As this new school year begins, I’ve been looking at the recent contradictory calls for a still longer school year, supposedly to increase achievement, and for a shorter school year to save money. Both proposals seem absurd, though maybe it’s always the “silly season” when it comes to public education in the United States. President Obama, still “my man,” but rarely my favorite educational thinker, has talked about increasing the length of the school year so that our achievement can be more competitive with other countries. I disagree. (more...)

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The ‘absurd’ debate about length of school year

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