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Obama might make school longer
- Thread starter Fire Type
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Honestly, I think it'd be fine.
America has one of the shortest school years on the entire planet other countries go nearly all year round (not American-year round school, literally, over three hundred days).
On the subject of lenghthening the hours, I also see no real problem with this. Nothing wrong with squeezing in an extra ten minutes of learning per class. Sure, I'm not fan of certain classes, but why not be a smarter country? The world needs smart people.
Doubt it will get passed anytime soon, though.
And I doubt his daughters are happy about the possibility of it xD
America has one of the shortest school years on the entire planet other countries go nearly all year round (not American-year round school, literally, over three hundred days).
On the subject of lenghthening the hours, I also see no real problem with this. Nothing wrong with squeezing in an extra ten minutes of learning per class. Sure, I'm not fan of certain classes, but why not be a smarter country? The world needs smart people.
Doubt it will get passed anytime soon, though.
And I doubt his daughters are happy about the possibility of it xD
Thats only a good thing though, for those who have a brain and academic abilities anyway.
If anything, its only good. I can't see how giving you extra teaching time to improve your potential grade is unfair and outrageous. In fact, its the exact opposite.
Great idea Obama, in my books.
(Heh, funny to see that whilst I was writing my post, two others were in support already
)
If anything, its only good. I can't see how giving you extra teaching time to improve your potential grade is unfair and outrageous. In fact, its the exact opposite.
Great idea Obama, in my books.
(Heh, funny to see that whilst I was writing my post, two others were in support already
)The way I look at it, more class time = less homework.
And even so, it doesn't really matter. Knowledge and intelligence is just what this world needs as we stare down a seemingly endless list of crises. (plura of crisis, amirite?) Like I said, not a huge fan of school, but I love to learn knew things. Just so long as it isn't math.
Also, at LoN, I'd laugh to death if Obama somehow read that comment from you. It'd be frelling awesome.
And even so, it doesn't really matter. Knowledge and intelligence is just what this world needs as we stare down a seemingly endless list of crises. (plura of crisis, amirite?) Like I said, not a huge fan of school, but I love to learn knew things. Just so long as it isn't math.
Also, at LoN, I'd laugh to death if Obama somehow read that comment from you. It'd be frelling awesome.
Good on Obama if he's trying to raise the education standards of what is supposedly the 'greatest' country in the world. Honestly, I think the English education system needs a re-think, maybe they'll tag along behind Obama to look cool...
I am a bit bitter, but then what point is it to have exams where one must vomit forth so much information in a constrained time period when one's brain doesn't work like that?
Also, Obama should make at least a rudimentary NHS for the US, but that's neither here nor there for this thread.
Also, if a student has bad grades or isn't doing so well in a subject... holy crap just tell someone! For god's sake, the teachers are there to help you and if they're not they're not doing their job/s properly! It's hardly rocket science.
Sorry, but the topics of education, healthcare and equal rights get right under my skin.
I am a bit bitter, but then what point is it to have exams where one must vomit forth so much information in a constrained time period when one's brain doesn't work like that?
Also, Obama should make at least a rudimentary NHS for the US, but that's neither here nor there for this thread.
Also, if a student has bad grades or isn't doing so well in a subject... holy crap just tell someone! For god's sake, the teachers are there to help you and if they're not they're not doing their job/s properly! It's hardly rocket science.
Sorry, but the topics of education, healthcare and equal rights get right under my skin.
Homework = More knowledge for the exam = Passed exam.
[quote author=Fire Type link=topic=5738.msg93371#msg93371 date=1236806577]
Besides how do you think those kids that aren't the best of students and get bad grades will feel?
[/quote]I know its tough, but sucks to them in my books
Their fault for not getting help, as Tatile said.Homework is a good way of making sure that a student has understood the subject, should they not ask questions in class. It's fairly obvious if you have to 1,500 words on, say, Plato's Forms and only write a meandering 500 which have nothing to do with the Forms, nor have any examples, that you haven't understood what that crazy old boy-lover was talking about.
That being said, I always believe in discussion. It works better with smaller groups, but if you can get a discussion on a certain subject rolling for a good half-hour with no input from the teacher, apart from answering the occasionally question, then the class understands. Students often help other students just by talking about random crap. What better way to understand the Harm Principle than to discuss the legalities of certain 'morally dubious' acts?
Yes Tatile, Yes! There is nothing better than the power of a classroom discussion. I love 'em to death. As of now, I can't think of any particuraly amazing one's I've had, but I still love them nonetheless. Agreed, a smaller group does work better, but the larger the group, the more opinions and input.
My Philosophy group was about eight people and boy did we have one heck of a time! Naturally I'd have some of the more... dubious points ^.~ Oh, that poor, poor prude of ours.
In College, which I did three years of, our classes were an hour and a half (or thereabouts). This gave us adqueate time to do most of what we wanted to do in each class. However given the nature of how our weeks were structed, it often ended with 'Well, would you look at the time. We'll have to cut it short there. Don't worry you'll have forgotten half of this the second you leave the room. Have fun in Sainsburys.'*
So to me, having a longer school day is beneficial and should prove to be so to Americans. However you do have the problem that many people seem to resent free education for some reason. That truly boggles the mind. It's like saying 'no' to a free vaccine for Polio or something.
*My friends and I often got our lunch from Sainsburys
In College, which I did three years of, our classes were an hour and a half (or thereabouts). This gave us adqueate time to do most of what we wanted to do in each class. However given the nature of how our weeks were structed, it often ended with 'Well, would you look at the time. We'll have to cut it short there. Don't worry you'll have forgotten half of this the second you leave the room. Have fun in Sainsburys.'*
So to me, having a longer school day is beneficial and should prove to be so to Americans. However you do have the problem that many people seem to resent free education for some reason. That truly boggles the mind. It's like saying 'no' to a free vaccine for Polio or something.
*My friends and I often got our lunch from Sainsburys
My Mom is a teacher also. I also think she won't want school hours longer. Homework does help, but in my classes we review enough as it is. Kids in my class don't get homework done sometimes. There might be 7 of them because they had after school activities to do instead of doing homework. After the teacher finds out they didn't do their homework they get detention to finish it, and they brought back cards as I got older. So now they get detention their last nights homework, this nights homework, and not being able to participate in an after school activity. What I am trying to say kids get less time to do homework.
Well, that's just priorities really, isn't it? Surely the parents have something to say if their child's activities (seeing as I don't know what they are I shan't pass judgement) are cutting into their schoolwork and, ulitmatly, their success. I may think the current examination system to be farcical at best, but learning itself is highly important.
Also, if you feel you need more time for homework, you could just ask? Giving your reasons of course. There's no harm in asking, is there? Just make sure you ask before the deadline, then there may be harm.
Also, if you feel you need more time for homework, you could just ask? Giving your reasons of course. There's no harm in asking, is there? Just make sure you ask before the deadline, then there may be harm.
Well I don't have an afterschool activity and always get my homework done. What about the kids that are honor students (Including myself) would feel they already have good grades. It would be a waste of time to make kids that are doing very well in school. Even my teacher likes to go home. Besides I would have to go to bed earlier because of this. Even if I go to bed at 5 and wake up in go to school i'll be as tired as I would at my normal bedtime.
I get on the bus at 7am. Everyone at my house is against it so far. All the kids at my school are against. Probably millions of kids are against it he should pay attention to everyone not just the older people. Hehehe I made the font blue. (Sorry that sentence was totally of subject.)
So either you have a very long bus ride to your school or an early start. However what are the proposed start and end times he wants to introduce and what are the current ones?
Well my bus ride is about an hour long. If he makes school start earlier lets say 7am I'll have to get up at 5:00 to get ready for school I'm already almost always tired from 6am to 10am. Also if he made it start at 7am then other kids will start making the bus more often. If I miss the bus I have to wait until my sister goes to school which is about an hour, or 2 away.
http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1078454.html - According to this, it's a toss up between extending school days (which I highly doubt will go into the morning, considering how mcuh research is currently being done on sleep versus brain activity in school age children) and making term time longer. So either he wants to make the school day longer, which would probably mean a later finish time or cut a couple of days, maybe a week or so, off your holidays, correct?
I still agree with his stance, that it's needed but that it won't be popular (which he even admits that it isn't popular in his family). I also see your point that an earlier start time will be deterimental to you, but do you really think he's going to bring forward the school start time with no regard to the health implcations of it on the pupils? A tired pupil is one that can't concentrate, those that can't concentrate do worse. Obama has the American reputation backing him to get information he needs on this sort of thing and given that he's taken over from Bush, I doubt he's going to do something quite that stupid.
I still agree with his stance, that it's needed but that it won't be popular (which he even admits that it isn't popular in his family). I also see your point that an earlier start time will be deterimental to you, but do you really think he's going to bring forward the school start time with no regard to the health implcations of it on the pupils? A tired pupil is one that can't concentrate, those that can't concentrate do worse. Obama has the American reputation backing him to get information he needs on this sort of thing and given that he's taken over from Bush, I doubt he's going to do something quite that stupid.
Meh... the average school year should be extended 2-4 weeks anyway. Many a times I know my teachers ran out of time to cover everything they wanted to and this would be a very good start. Yes it sucks that we would have to suffer through more school. But the rewards in the end would be greater. Better test results, more time to cover lessons in order to get understanding across to students, etc.
We don't need to be that smarter all we need to do is help the envirement invent some simple ways to do so although in the future we all imagine cool stuff don't you like what we have already. Besides if a kid wants to get smarter he can always study some parents force their kids to study. Now people are trying to force some kid that is forced to study go to school longer. If that happens he might as well invent the hover car. Based on which you've said I think your about 20-24. So Obama's decision doesn't affect you. Imagine this you as a 12-20 year and all of a sudden the president says well sorry you have to go to school longer. (This is the longest topic I've ever made.)
I am 20, I also chose to do three years of College (not the University kind you have in America either, this is paid for by the state but not mandatory). I fail to see what you mean by 'help the environment invent cool stuff', how in Darwin's name is a rock going to make an iPod? Hell, Obama's descision doesn't affect me anyway, I'm English!
Also, a child with potential might not get nutured by their parents, which is why there are special parts of the educational system. If I were still in Secondary and Gordon Brown up and decided to extend the school year, yes I'd be annoyed. However, I have reason and logical faculties to see where he's coming from. This is ultimately to the benefit for society and those that live in it, not to punish you.
Also, you seem to equate intelligence with what's known as 'book smarts'. Yes, often the two are seen together, but that isn't always so. A child needs to be given options and ideas, some of which can only be found in a school.
Who the heck is Darwin(Sorry for bad language incase you think it is bad) if we made ipods before he makes longer school days and hours we can make better now. Besides every generation kids are getting smarter and smarter even without school. Well others they just go on Myspace and Face Book hours a day. Besides we can use regular materials and not rocks for ipod beside atleast the rock ones would be more durable lol.
Darwin. Charles Darwin. The Theory of Evolution. The entire world (practically) celebrated the 200th anniversary of his birth last month. He's one of the most inlufencial and controvisal biologists we have. Your 'bad' (I've heard far worse) language doesn't shock me, your lack of general knowledge does. IPods came about after years of research and previous products, they couldn't exist without Babbage (I don't expect you to know who he was). The point of education is to instill some sort of aspiration in a person, a will to achieve, to nuture the innate human need to know.
Children are not getting 'smarter', at least it doesn't look that way to me. They may be getting more skillful on the QWERTY, but that doesn't mean that they understand why Shakespeare was a dirty, dirty man. If you can't see meaning in something totally random or make random connections, what can you achieve? If the future generations give science and maths the cold shoulder because they think they're smart enough already, what will we end up with? Being stuck in a technological Dark Age, that's what. I don't mean back to the plough, I mean no new advancements, no new gadegtry. But hey, that doesn't matter, because you're smart enough already! I'm sure you'll figure out what 'i' is all one your own!
Edit: HELL. You seem to complaining about something people die every day to get. Want to swap places with a Zimbabwean child? You won't have to go to school then, their education system's collapsed! People risk their lives to get their children into countries where they can get an education and you're complaining that you're going to get taught more stuff? Can you honestly say that you'd tell an African orphan who can't go to school that it's alright? That they're smart enough anyway?
I am ranting. I know I am. I'm just really pissed off with this over-blown sense of entitlement that has somehow leaked into society and has poisoned the minds of the populace. Education is not bad. Being educated is not bad.
Yoshimitsu
Former Moderator
Fire Type, seriously. You're being outclassed here. Just stop trying. Your arguments have no solid evidence proving them, and they hold very little ground anyway. Seriously, "children are getting genetically smarter each generation"? That's bullshit, quite frankly. I'm waiting to see some well-thought out arguments here.
I already know 'I' means me besides you need to capitalize that letter. If you haven't noticed kids are getting smarter go back 50 years and go to a high school you'll know the difference instantly. If I was in school 50 years ago i would be in highschool. Yes I know it took years to make an ipod. We learn from our mistakes is a big part. We will make better ipods without longer school periods eventually we shall learn after each time we fail to attempt to make that better ipod or other technology. Technology has been advancing since the beginning of time from the club to the spear, from the T.v. to colored T.v. Also I'm arguing with someone thats about 7 years older then me. I say I'm doing a pretty good job so far.
Yoshimitsu
Former Moderator
I hope no one else missed the irony in the above post
Yoshimitsu
Former Moderator
The irony was your opening sentence being about grammar, than your blatant disregard for it. Not to mention your disjointed points.
Nope, irony is a wonderful thing.
'i' refers to an imaginary number, most notably the square root of negative one. And the only reason you are smarter than kids 50 years ago is that teaching styles have vastly improved and you learn more at an earlier age.
And yes, I am coming to this argument from the viewpoint of a 26 year old. But school wasn't that big a deal. I had plenty of afterschool activities and was able to balance my schoolwork and sports and the like.
All in all, wait ten years and see if you still feel the same about school when you are trying to get a job.
'i' refers to an imaginary number, most notably the square root of negative one. And the only reason you are smarter than kids 50 years ago is that teaching styles have vastly improved and you learn more at an earlier age.
And yes, I am coming to this argument from the viewpoint of a 26 year old. But school wasn't that big a deal. I had plenty of afterschool activities and was able to balance my schoolwork and sports and the like.
All in all, wait ten years and see if you still feel the same about school when you are trying to get a job.
I'm not saying school is a bad thing, that I don't want school, or I entirely hate it. All I'm saying is that I think that more school is a bad thing. Also I'm running out of ideas it would help if one of you were on my side lol. Also how long have we been arguing I ate dinner while arguing with you guys.
Yoshimitsu
Former Moderator
I'm fine with it. As in neutral.
Some goods:
-Higher grades, don't we all want that XD
-Like Cody said: More class time = less homework. I HATE homework, and my teachers let us do our homework if we get our classwork done.
More time in spanish class would increase my somewhat abysmal (by my high standards XD) grades.
A negative:
-Being pestered by people you hate that much longer.
I'm not for or against it really, but I think we all want higher grades XD
Also, Tatile has a point. Without education, what are we?
I'll shush now XD
Some goods:
-Higher grades, don't we all want that XD
-Like Cody said: More class time = less homework. I HATE homework, and my teachers let us do our homework if we get our classwork done.
More time in spanish class would increase my somewhat abysmal (by my high standards XD) grades.
A negative:
-Being pestered by people you hate that much longer.
I'm not for or against it really, but I think we all want higher grades XD
Also, Tatile has a point. Without education, what are we?
I'll shush now XD
Dwayna DragonFire
2014 Little Cup Champion
Behold, the uber irony of a Canadian posting in a discussion about the American leader! It's totally random, and random is awesome! Or at least in my case it is. Your type of randomosity (that's not even a word) tends to disgust me.
I agree with you that school sucks sometimes, but it helps you learn things, and sometimes you get awesome teachers. You're probably barely in high school. Just wait until that hell begins. Trust me, you'll be complaining a lot more.
But seriously, I think that it is about damn time someone stepped up to the plate and made you Americans learn something. Some of your people don't even know where my country is, and that's just plain wrong.
I agree with you that school sucks sometimes, but it helps you learn things, and sometimes you get awesome teachers. You're probably barely in high school. Just wait until that hell begins. Trust me, you'll be complaining a lot more.
But seriously, I think that it is about damn time someone stepped up to the plate and made you Americans learn something. Some of your people don't even know where my country is, and that's just plain wrong.
To be honest, the whole "More school is wrong!" is typical of someone your age, Fire Type, since I hear my 16-year-old brother complain about how much "school sucks" all the time. I'm 20 now and I can say that whilst one event in particular did mar my school memories quite badly (although said event had nothing to do with school whatsoever,) my last two years of school were easily some of the best times I've ever had in my life, and it is thanks to those two years that I'm in university now.
Also, it almost sounds like you think Obama is doing this because he thinks your generation isn't as smart as previous generations, but did you ever once think that Obama may actually be doing this to help people still at school such as yourself? You make it sound like he's putting you out by doing this, which couldn't be any further from the truth.
Also, if kids are supposedly getting smarter with the new generations, explain why my exam grades, as well as those of the vast majority of my peers in the same school year as me, have made the kids in my brother's school year look like brain-dead morons in comparison. If kids are supposedly "getting smarter," what happened there? Also, just to rub it in, I had far better grammar than what you've shown in your posts thus far when I was your age, so...yeah. If your generation is so much smarter than mine, why don't you prove it, because I personally find that claim quite insulting.
Also, it almost sounds like you think Obama is doing this because he thinks your generation isn't as smart as previous generations, but did you ever once think that Obama may actually be doing this to help people still at school such as yourself? You make it sound like he's putting you out by doing this, which couldn't be any further from the truth.
Also, if kids are supposedly getting smarter with the new generations, explain why my exam grades, as well as those of the vast majority of my peers in the same school year as me, have made the kids in my brother's school year look like brain-dead morons in comparison. If kids are supposedly "getting smarter," what happened there? Also, just to rub it in, I had far better grammar than what you've shown in your posts thus far when I was your age, so...yeah. If your generation is so much smarter than mine, why don't you prove it, because I personally find that claim quite insulting.
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