Specifically, I didn’t take the longer school hours and seven days a week necessarily to mean any one student would be there that many hours or days. Instead, I took it ti mean better access for the community at large. After all, schools sit empty and unused a fair portion of the time, which has always struck me as rather wasteful.

Consider the example of colleges and universities. I’ve taught as early as 7:00 A.M. and as late as 10:00 P.M. Perhaps administrative offices could be open fewer hours than the rest of the schools, true. Maybe greater flexibility could be introduced into class scheduling, which might help some families in which the parent(s) work unusual hours. Further, maybe class sizes could be kept down a bit.

I’m not a parent myself, but over the years I’ve long fretted about the lack, at all levels, of way too many parents, particularly when their children are growing up., not taking an active role in their kids’ education. I’m not criticizing anyone; a lot of parents may simply not have the time to be going to many school functions. But if schools can get them to take a more direct interest in their children’s education, including at home, surely it would help. I’m from Texas but have lived in first China then Thailand for many years, and in Asia generally, parents do tend to be more involved than some American parents (which is not to say education in this part of the world is perfect — it’s not, not by a long shot).

In other words, I’m getting a sense of expanding the role of schools into areas of community outreach and service. Maybe they could offer for-pay training classes for adults, too, but cheaper than college/university tuition and fees.

I realize no one solution will be suitable for every school and community. Therefore, I like the idea of leaving decisions at the local level while striving to improve and standardize (to a degree) education. And young people need to be urged to tackle the hard subjects, too, including, perhaps especially, in the sciences, engineering, technology, etc. — and I’m an English teacher saying that. Of course, I’d like the students to get a broad-based education up through a bachelor’s degree.

Anyway, that’s mjy take and I hope I’m not misreading. If you’re right, then certainly any student would be greatly overburdened beyond all reason.

There won’t be time for Jimmy to get a paper route and learn that his actions control how much money he makes. Becky won’t have time to volunteer at the animal hospital where the seeds of her career as a veterinarian are sown. Teenagers won’t have the experience of looking after a younger sibling sometimes because they and their sibling will be in school. Mark or Marcy may never get to find out from cooking dinner for the family that they’d really like to be a chef or own a hotel.

We don’t need more supereducated people. We don’t need more hours in class. We don’t need more one-size-fits-all education. We do need schools that have various targeted academic paths to focus on the strengths of students to help them be their personal best. We don’t need everyone to be an Einstein. We do need more people who know how to connect in a community, who can actually cook their own dinner, and who become good parents because they’ve learned how to care for children. Those things have to be caught, not taught by a textbook.

All I have to say here is that I’m so glad my daughter is in a private school and that she has just one year left. Oh, and who says the time of a mom being home for her kids after school is over? I built my career in a way where I’m home for my daughter everyday. There may be less of us moms, but we’re not gone yet.

I also grew up with a man with whom I shared a long friendship, though our political views were opposite in every way. This man got his education degree and focused in history. I knew he had very liberal views, but I thought he’d teach things objectively. Our friendship was severed the night he told me that he was teaching his students to memorize key passages from The Communist Manifesto and lecturing them often on the virtues of registering as a lifelong socialist Democrat. They were required to write and give short speeches about the values of communism and the moral evil of America. As a mother, I was horrified by what he was doing without his students’ parents being aware of it. As an American citizen, I was horrified that he would teach our young people that our country is a monster.

These situations have caused me to distrust public schools. I know for a fact that some teachers are kind, objective, and do their best to teach well. However, those who aren’t that way can do untold damage, and there is no way for a parent to monitor what a teacher is saying or doing to her child. The teachers who use their classroom as a pulpit are shielded by the school, their union, and other teachers. No one protects the child or parent, and there is no one to take action on a parent’s behalf if a parent contacts the school.

This is why I opted for a private school for my daughter and will continue to urge parents to avoid public school if at all possible. Until I see schools letting parents back inside, I will do all I can to convince parents that there are better options.

from 16 to 18 ? ONLY two years out of 13 years of school ?

The MAJORITY of school aged are not old enough to legally work ! K-10 graders

are going to get Summer jobs now ?

Most of the kids have lazy parents who let their kids play video games for

3 months out of the year ! (Oh expect 1 week of Summer camp, of course!)

SEE WHY WE NEED A CHOICE ? Different parents have different ideas how what

is best for THEIR children !

Vouchers….baby VOUCHERS !

Private schools are the BEST….do whatever you can to get your kid OUT of

public school ! Believe me, you’ll be glad you did !

That’s obvious by your lack of spelling abilities and the fact that you think more time in a failing public school is the answer to our kids failing because of public schools.

How about the kids that want to work for a couple months to earn money for school clothes and ipods? Not all kids that have three months off are “lazy”. What a jerk remark.

While kids like my son, who LOVES to learn and wanted to go back to school after about 3 weeks, can go to a better school!

Look at it this way, the high achievers can go to the better colleges, etc., and get better jobs….and the lazy kids can mow their lawns and paint their houses when they grow up !