Andover Townsman: Letter: Tweak current education, don't throw hours at the problem
!!!
· 1 year ago
Hat's off to you. I couldn't agree more, extended day care is exactly what is is!!!
Anne
· 1 year ago
Kid’s lives are already overscheduled as it is. Whatever happened to free time to play, to explore on one’s own? I have a friend who teaches in the Boston school system and they start their day at 7:15 am and run into late afternoon! They haven’t gained anything other than more exhausted students and teachers!
Midd 18
· 1 year ago
I agree completely. However, many Irish folks tell me their model is too exam oriented towards the end of High School. If given the choice between the Irish model and the Chinese model, I probably would want my kinds to be prepared for a knowledge based economy and not a low cost economy like China. But now even the Chinese are beginning to reform their traditional education system with a bigger emphasis on communication than on memorization. Memorization does not foster innovative thinking or creativity. Having just returned from Dubai it is more apparent than ever that the World is Flat and our children will have to be able to adapt to a variety of different environments and philosophies. We all hope for our children's success but they need to enjoy their childhood while it lasts and learn to explore and learn on their own. The Chinese spend a portion of their day at school doing homework. Don't forget most schools are in densely populated cities and most students live in small apartments with very little space to do their homework. We are fortunate to live in such a beautiful and rural setting and our kids should enjoy it while they can.
More Colleges and Universities are becoming less reliant on standardized test scores. They are still important but the fallacies are prevalent and many realize a lot of it comes down to memorization and practice.....that sounds familiar. Why would such a major change in children's lives come down to being in the top 10% rather than the top 15%? If we want to be in the top 10% we bring in a Kaplan / Princeton Review counselor and teach them how to tackle diagnostics! I recently read a commentary that said it best "MCAS is bad for kids in poorly performing schools, which mostly need more money and more creativity. And it's bad for kids in high-performing schools which probably just need to be left alone"
SBrooks
· 1 year ago
I agree completely. If parents want to over-educate their kids, they should pay out of pocket. Extended Day may be help kids learn more at an earlier age, but it wont guarantee success later in life. Children need time to be kids and to have fun otherwise their childhood will be too stressful and too structured.
DCOD
· 1 year ago
My family and I just moved this spring. We looked at Andover, Winchester, Belmont, and Lexington, finally chose Lexington. The elementary school kids here have half-days every Thursday, and still manage to score highly on tests. So I don't necessarily think the number of hours is important, rather it's what is taught and how it's taught that helps. And let's not forget a couple of key points, 1) not all kids learn the same way, 2) parental involvement is essential to a better education for your children, and 3) this is America, where opportunity is presented, but it's up to the individual to go get it and equally up to the individual to say nah, I just want to loaf. So why force something on kids and parents when it's not necessarily the best choice? For example, this fall Lexington is implementing a full day option for kindergarten - families have can choose to pay for full day, but also can still go half day, private, or not at all (Mass state law doesn't require kindergarten attendance). This allows families to make the right decisions for themselves. Granted, there are logistical hurdles to overcome, but planning and communication assist in solving those problems, but most importantly families have to make (gasp!) trade-offs. I know, it's shocking that in this day and age that we can't get our cake and eat it too. Think very carefully about your course of action before setting it in stone.
jfournier
· 1 year ago
I am also opposed to ELT and disturbed that this process of fundamental consideration/ grant process has not been handled more formally, at a School Committee level, and across all schools-and for all parents.
I am fundamentally opposed to a longer day for these kids, who are already hard pressed for extra curricular activity and held to very heavy homework standards. Especially at the k-5 level of our Elementary Schools, I think a 6:00am – 4:00PM day (which is truly more in line with what these schedules propose given preparation time and busing considerations) is far too much for these children. More is not always more, or better, and in this case I think there is a diminishing return.
Especially in light of the economic times and the process we have just been through regarding school budget funding difficulties, it is absolutely NOT the time to consider any major undertaking such as this that will ADD cost to an already stretched system.
For the amount of core curriculum time that is added by this proposal, I think there are more innovative ways to add the equivalent of benefit to “academic excellence” through clubs/enrichments and or even special project assignment time for more eager or perhaps “above average” students who wish to accelerate the subject matter or depth explored in a given year. I would really like to see time within the existing day prioritized to better exploit technology labs and skills for these kids.
I will continue to follow this issue and information as available, and hope that the committee will strongly consider the opposition of a great number of parents on this issue. I think the overall impact is much broader and complex than the current process suggests, and is oversimplified by this “grant/study”.
I do not think "we" should be applying for anything, prior to much more information, discussion, and a plan for a process of resident consensus for how to move forward, it at all, on this intitiative.
Rick Abbott
· 1 year ago
Kudos to Mr. Keenan for uncovering this scam. Instead of extended school days, how about infusing the school day with some efficiency? Today is June 19, and my kids have done virtually nothing of an educational nature in over a week. There was a field trip to tour Fenway Park on Tuesday - where's the educational value in that? Why not a field trip to the Museum of Science or Museum of Fine Arts? An entire school day was lost on the Fenway Park trip - a day that would've been better used for teaching science or math. If the teachers can not fill the school days as they now exist with quality education, then why should we agree to an extended school day?
A longer school day is not necessary - better use of the existing school day is necessary.
aa
· 1 year ago
you can go look at some paintings while the normal human beings have a fun time and visit fenway
ktn
· 1 year ago
AA misses the point. Normal human beings do NOT want an extended school day just to go on jollys to Fenway Park, which is a fun spot I might add. Parents can bring their kids to Fenway on their own time. To quote the writer above - "My kids have done nothing in a week". Yet a silent minority want to add to the school day - for what, to chase ticks around the school yard or more trips to sports stadiums. Looking at paintings has value too AA - you should try it sometime. Do we need to go to a Sports Stadium on tax payer dollars when a minority of people are trying to slam home (Fenway analogy for AA) an extra 300 hours in to the school year which currently seems to have drawn to a focused "educational end" over a week ago? Send the kids to the JFk library if you want on my taxes or better still charge those who want to go to Fenway with AA and leave my kid behind learning math, science or history or let my kid pay to go too if he/she wants to go, but tax payer dollars? As Mr Abbot said, focus on WHAT is thought now. I hope AA does nt want Extended Day Care just so he/she can pick the kids up from school at 4pm so he/she can put them to bed at 6pm so he/she can watch the Sox game alone in peace. My kids love the Sox and also love their art projects from the current Andover school curriculum. There is a happy medium somewhere, just not in an extra 300 hours of the school year and AA misses that point, maybe he/she still believes in the curse?
rea
· 1 year ago
Then let the "normal people" spend their own money and time to visit Fenway and keep their hands out of the taxpayers' pockets for noneducational pursuits. Claudia Bach laments the fact that our kids are supposedly languishing behind the other industrialized nations and uses this to justify the extended day. Yet an entire school day is used for a visit to Fenway Park? Does anyone else see the irony in this?
Here's a novel idea - if folks need day care, let them pay for it out of their own pocket.
A quote from Thomas Jefferson - "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
AH
· 1 year ago
hmmm - 100 mins of extra schooling per day with 33.33 mins (1/3) going to teacher meetings and planning, 33.33333 minutes (2/6) allocated to after school activities and 33.3333333333 minutes or another 3/9 of the time allocated to educational content. Wow, this sounds like a great plan! Keep in mind, all the above math was calculated without extended day care, a computer, abacus or even a calculator, no just a solid foundation in math. Should nt the kids have this foundation now without the need to start school at 745am and finish at 345pm?
All Comments
More Colleges and Universities are becoming less reliant on standardized test scores. They are still important but the fallacies are prevalent and many realize a lot of it comes down to memorization and practice.....that sounds familiar. Why would such a major change in children's lives come down to being in the top 10% rather than the top 15%? If we want to be in the top 10% we bring in a Kaplan / Princeton Review counselor and teach them how to tackle diagnostics! I recently read a commentary that said it best "MCAS is bad for kids in poorly performing schools, which mostly need more money and more creativity. And it's bad for kids in high-performing schools which probably just need to be left alone"
I am fundamentally opposed to a longer day for these kids, who are already hard pressed for extra curricular activity and held to very heavy homework standards. Especially at the k-5 level of our Elementary Schools, I think a 6:00am – 4:00PM day (which is truly more in line with what these schedules propose given preparation time and busing considerations) is far too much for these children. More is not always more, or better, and in this case I think there is a diminishing return.
Especially in light of the economic times and the process we have just been through regarding school budget funding difficulties, it is absolutely NOT the time to consider any major undertaking such as this that will ADD cost to an already stretched system.
For the amount of core curriculum time that is added by this proposal, I think there are more innovative ways to add the equivalent of benefit to “academic excellence” through clubs/enrichments and or even special project assignment time for more eager or perhaps “above average” students who wish to accelerate the subject matter or depth explored in a given year. I would really like to see time within the existing day prioritized to better exploit technology labs and skills for these kids.
I will continue to follow this issue and information as available, and hope that the committee will strongly consider the opposition of a great number of parents on this issue. I think the overall impact is much broader and complex than the current process suggests, and is oversimplified by this “grant/study”.
I do not think "we" should be applying for anything, prior to much more information, discussion, and a plan for a process of resident consensus for how to move forward, it at all, on this intitiative.
A longer school day is not necessary - better use of the existing school day is necessary.
Here's a novel idea - if folks need day care, let them pay for it out of their own pocket.
A quote from Thomas Jefferson - "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."