Uh oh... Obama just lost the 5- to 17-year-old vote

[scheming daemons]

WASHINGTON - Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33054056/ns/us_news-education/

[ddeclue]

1. =unfunded mandate. Local school districts have no money for this

thanks to all the tax cutting and welfare for billionaires.

How will this be funded?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. local funding of schools is an enormous problem in and of itself.

I hope it will be funded federally, if for no other reason than to help reduce the inequities in the system of funding for education. One's zip code should not determine the quality of education you receive.

[tekisui]

10. Absolutely. I would love to see federal funding of the public

school system. Just give education a faction of the pis slice that the war machine gets. Inequality in education resources is a bane on society.

[YOY]

4. By making the fucking DoD hold a bakesale to buy tech they don't need.

Sadly that will never happen.

[Deja Q]

15. Prostitutes.

In seriousness, you raise a damn good point.

But Americans, thanks to the CORPORATE MEDIA, want it both ways.

[Richardo]

2. More time for INDOCTRINATION you mean!

/rw goofball

[mzmolly]

5. I disagree. What we need are more teachers,

more one on one time and more time for kids to be kids.

[AuntPatsy]

6. My gandchildren already go to school year round..they like it much better than

getting three months off at a time...I don't understand why more schools do not do the same..it has proven effective?

[orleans]

7. i said something similar last night

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4079375&mesg_id=4079766

only i said 0-17 -- wanted to include those pre pre schoolers

[ShortnFiery]

8. My teen, being what I consider "a normal teen" ... she's not enthused about an extended School Year.

:shrug:

[heliarc]

12. OMG nt.

[ShortnFiery]

21. Yes, she does well in HS, but gee, this is Summer Vacation that Obama wants to mess with ...

I can empathize as I would hold the same sentiment at her young age. :shrug:

[Echo In Light]

23. Hell, I hold it at a much older age. And my young daughter thinks the idea sucks on toast.

Thankfully that overkill, corporate ass kissery isn't being debated in our neck of the woods ... at least we, the parents, have yet to hear of such a ridiculous proposal.

[orleans]

9. what crap. he's stepping in big doo doo saying shit like this.

for a lot of reasons.

[Deja Q]

26. Then I must be tapdancing in a puddle of big doo doo.

For I agree with the President on this!

We need reform. For a lot of reasons.

[bluestateguy]

11. I hope Sasha and Malia will talk some sense into him

School is not the only place that children learn.

[heliarc]

17. It's the only place children learn higher math...

And Literature. There's a lot of home schooling, that's pure and utter indoctrination and the poorest of exposure to advanced study into a whole host of subjects that students need for skilled jobs in the world economy... I support a longer school year.

[bluestateguy]

22. reply

My point is that education can often be attained outside of the classroom, away from formal "school" settings. When I was a kid, my parents took me to zoos, museums, state/national parks and educational tourist sites on weekends and in summers.

Going to summer camp can also be a valuable experience for children, learning important social and personal growth skills.

In any event, the federal government should not be mandating a longer school year. That only creates legal precedent for more top down management of our schools from Washington DC (like NCLB).

[regnaD kciN]

13. There are school districts already doing this...

...and cutting summer vacation to a month or so, with a trade-off of longer holiday, mid-winter, and spring breaks. It still adds about a month to the school year. I don't know if there are enough results from those districts yet to tell whether it results in academic improvement.

FWIW, when I lived in Switzerland, we only had two months of summer vacation instead of the three in the U.S. Personally, I didn't notice that much of a difference in terms of how much I got done during the summer (although it did amuse this American that, one year, school let out on U.S. Independence Day ;-) ).

[DireStrike]

33. I only had about 2 months here

July and august, and maybe a few days at the end of june and the beginning of september.

[FLAprogressive]

14. This is moronic.....just like all of the excess emphasis on "math & science"

We have a bunch of kids these days who can't read a lick but can do complex math problems! Yippee!

Plus some kids just don't want to learn....think adding more days to the school year will be a motivating factor?

[heliarc]

18. There's nothing moronic about a longer school year.

I am totally with you on the problems with reading skills, but a longer school year could do a lot to improve the comprehensive learning that kids do.

[FLAprogressive]

20. kids who want to learn will learn. kids who don't won't.

It starts with the parents.

[Deja Q]

27. My parents motivated me when I didn't want to... circa age 7...

Since then, I love to learn - especially in a proper environment, conducive to learning.

And that environment isn't, right now, my employer since they're content to pigeonhole everyone.

[FLAprogressive]

32. Exactly, it starts with the parents....

[BlooInBloo]

16. More relevantly: of lots of people who want Americans to be as stupid as possible.

[Deja Q]

29. Including those who offshore jobs, claiming Americans are stupid as the reason for doing so?

The products coming into this country from the hands of offshored labor and service seem to prove there are plenty just as dumb as we are, if not worse...

Therefore, it's not about education. It's about money. Greed. Their greed.

[bdamomma]

44. exactly, they can control the citizens better.

[JVS]

19. This is inevitable. Parents need the daycare service provided by the schools

[Rex]

24. Anything would be better then the 'No Child Left Behind' crap of the Batshit Crazy Repuke Era.

When ignorance and arrogance ruled the day.

[ctaylors6]

25. I remember my son and his friends arguing about which candidate would make them do more homework

They were in 3rd grade during the primaries and I remember lots of heated discussions. "Hillary would make us do WAYYY more homework than Obama."

[CTyankee]

28. Maybe so! But I don't think Obama is any softie either. nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. and a lot of moms who actually like having their kids home for the

summer.

The sad part is that this is what the kids were repeating in the hallways of school all last year and I told them to chill. Perhaps I should have told them to motivate and assemble. :D

[seabeyond]

45. some of us do like our kids. some kids do the work. some kids like the home time.

wtf

[DireStrike]

31. Hey why not, the next generation is gonna have crappier wages, weaker government

more corporate slavery... why not start early disabusing them of any free time? They will thank us for it later, when their boss allows them to speak.

[FLAprogressive]

35. +1

[catzies]

34. Was I the only one who got the humor in your headline? 5-17 years olds voting?

:shrug: I thought it was pretty funny too. :thumbsup:

[scheming daemons]

41. Apparently..... lots of people missed it

[seabeyond]

46. got it. i am sure most did. just didnt comment. cute. nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

49. People didn't miss it. I think it was a no brainer.

Were we supposed to comment on it?

[Zen Democrat]

36. I believe our kids attend school less than children in other developed nations.

We need to step it up. We have kids who can't read, write, spell, or know the basics of history, much less math and science. Besides, since most kids don't play outside much anymore, they are at home on computers or playing video games. Maybe they can get more PE at school in the future.

[Toucano]

37. I despise this approach to fixing education.

As if giving children MORE of something crappy will fix the situation.

[seabeyond]

47. exactly. makes no logical sense at all. time, hours isnt the issues. nt

[Avalux]

38. Before he extends school days, he'd better fix "no child left behind".

Like hell I'd want my kids in school LONGER just to learn how to take tests. The summer is my time to take my kids to see and do things they can't experience in a classroom.

[Tim01]

39. More garbage in still equals garbage out. nt

[seabeyond]

48. if by 12th grade student still doesnt know first pres of u.s. an extra year is NOT

gonna help them

[merh]

40. But - with the economy being in such sad shape and funding cut`

at every level of government - schools are looking to change their calenders so that they are not in session during the time energy costs are the highest. For the South, that would be trying to hold classes during the months when they don't need to use the air conditioners all the time.

I'm sure the school systems in northern states are looking into changing their calenders too.

[Iggo]

42. Funny.

:rofl:

(But remember: Most of those high school kids will be old enough to vote in the next presidential election.)

[Romulox]

43. 90+ % of my local property taxes already go for school funding. Where will the money come from?

This sounds like a "manned mission to mars" pie-in-the-sky type stuff to me. :shrug:

[jenniferj]

50. The UK have less holiday time for kids...

I come from a country that gives kids six weeks in the summer and that has most parents tearing their hair out and the kids get bored...