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A longer school day and school on Saturday??? Anyone hear about this?
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<blockquote data-quote="muttmeister" data-source="post: 309948" data-attributes="member: 135"><p>If that's really true, then why should they go to school at all? I agree that a lot of what we learned in school is outdated or useless. I've always loved the old song that says, "When I think of all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." The problem is, the powers that be and the makers of tests find it much easier to test for useless facts than to test for understanding and though processes. </p><p>When I wrote that we spend a lot of the first part of the year reviewing, I admit that I was thinking mostly of elementary kids and I was referring to how to read and how to write effectively and how to do basic math and a few things like that. These are skills that those kids will use for the rest of their lives. If they didn't spend all of that time reviewing, they would have more time to hone those basic skills that they will be using for the rest of their lives.</p><p>As far as the other subjects go, that is an old debate. Most of us do not use calculus or trigonometry math in our daily lives but I like to think that the thought processes have carried over. Since I have graduated, nobody has asked me to quote Shakespeare or Thoreau, but I think that I am a better individual because I studied them. I have not been asked to diagram a sentence since I left 8th grade, but the fact that I learned it then makes me better able to express myself now in coherent sentences (maybe you disagree with me after reading that last one - LOL). For years, educators have been saying that we need to be teaching our kids HOW to think and HOW to find information and HOW to process that information, but too many people say, "That's not what or how I was taught and what was good enough for me is what my kids need." Does memorizing the major exports of Peru do you any good as an adult? I don't think so but it is easier to test for than trying to find out if kids understand how the imports and exports of South American countries affects our economy here so we dumb it down and test for the easier stuff. </p><p>What is really needed is not more hours in school, but more effective use of the hours we do have. I live in a culture in my state where the most important thing the school does, in most people's eyes, is provide winning football, basketball, and volleyball teams, and how dare any teacher assign homework on a game night. Until we get our priorities straight, we are going to have trouble in our schools.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="muttmeister, post: 309948, member: 135"] If that's really true, then why should they go to school at all? I agree that a lot of what we learned in school is outdated or useless. I've always loved the old song that says, "When I think of all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." The problem is, the powers that be and the makers of tests find it much easier to test for useless facts than to test for understanding and though processes. When I wrote that we spend a lot of the first part of the year reviewing, I admit that I was thinking mostly of elementary kids and I was referring to how to read and how to write effectively and how to do basic math and a few things like that. These are skills that those kids will use for the rest of their lives. If they didn't spend all of that time reviewing, they would have more time to hone those basic skills that they will be using for the rest of their lives. As far as the other subjects go, that is an old debate. Most of us do not use calculus or trigonometry math in our daily lives but I like to think that the thought processes have carried over. Since I have graduated, nobody has asked me to quote Shakespeare or Thoreau, but I think that I am a better individual because I studied them. I have not been asked to diagram a sentence since I left 8th grade, but the fact that I learned it then makes me better able to express myself now in coherent sentences (maybe you disagree with me after reading that last one - LOL). For years, educators have been saying that we need to be teaching our kids HOW to think and HOW to find information and HOW to process that information, but too many people say, "That's not what or how I was taught and what was good enough for me is what my kids need." Does memorizing the major exports of Peru do you any good as an adult? I don't think so but it is easier to test for than trying to find out if kids understand how the imports and exports of South American countries affects our economy here so we dumb it down and test for the easier stuff. What is really needed is not more hours in school, but more effective use of the hours we do have. I live in a culture in my state where the most important thing the school does, in most people's eyes, is provide winning football, basketball, and volleyball teams, and how dare any teacher assign homework on a game night. Until we get our priorities straight, we are going to have trouble in our schools. [/QUOTE]
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A longer school day and school on Saturday??? Anyone hear about this?
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