http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/09/obama-oversteps.html
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/mixed-reaction-on-li-over-obama-s-longer-school-year-proposal-1.1486435

The short version:  Barack wants schools to have extended hours so that we can "catch up to China" and the rest of the world in education.

Possible Consequences:  
[list]*Longer school hours of operation will increase the cost of operating schools which will in turn raise taxes.
*Forcing kids to attend an even longer, artificially extended school year will possibly raise the drop out rate.
*Test score may improve over the short term, but long term gains will be unachievable because the end result will only be more school days along with more "Teacher Work Days"[/list]

Better Solutions:
[list]*Reduce the power of the Teacher's Union and eliminate as many "Teacher Work Days" as possible.
*Pay teachers based on performance instead of tenure.
*School vouchers/school choice.
*If necessary reduce spending on extracurricular activities to increase spending on text books and teaching supplies.
*Re-tool our current "standardized" test system.
*Instead of increasing the length of the school day/year let's increase the quality of our schools[/list]

These are just the quick ideas I had when I decided a post on this was worth while.  I believe I make legitimate points with both the consequences and the solutions.  Let's face facts, if schools are open longer hours each day, each week, and throughout the year the costs of operating the public school system will have to increase.  We have enough kids dropping out because they are "tired of going to school,"  making the school year longer is not going to solve this problem, especially not just because Barack has asked these kids to stay in school and work hard.  

A freind of mine was home schooled for her last two years of high school but because of a minor snafu with the NC Board of Ed. she still had to get a GED to attend CFCC.  The "Adult High School/GED" class she attended was also attended by several much younger students who told her that they had dropped out because they were not learning anything new in school and figured it must be a waste of time...

Knowledge retention is one of the biggest problems children face today.  With so much going on in their formative years, especially now with the commonness of video games and the internet, school children are finding it harder and harder to retain what they learn.  I know the older I got and the more I had going on the less I was able to easily recall new concepts and information.  Not much has changed, my life has only gotten more hectic.  Just imagine the children and teenagers trying to cope with not only school, but also, extracurricular activities, a social life, a family life, and possibly a part time job so they can afford the latest fashions or the newest Wii game.  Throw into this mix the hodgepodge of Holidays and "Teacher Work Days" and we are putting our students at a serious disadvantage. By the way, guess who helps determine how many teacher work days there are and when they fall in the school calendar: the Techers' Unions...  With all the current gaps in the school year it is amazing that these kids can pass and EOG/EOC test.

Which brings me to my next idea, re-tool the "standardized" test system.  I'm not talking so much about the SATs, though that system seriously needs to be rethought slightly, but more about your average End-of_Grade or End-of-Course tests that all schools children in NC (and presumably the rest of the country) must pass.  Many schools now base their "passing" and "failing" on these tests alone, they may not always count for part of the students actual letter grade, but if they pass an EOG they get promoted to the next grade level.  My question is:  How can a child who can not pass a class pass an EOG/EOC test?  Answer: Too many teachers spend the last few days and weeks of class having their students "memorize" the tests.  You read that right.  "Memorize."  Give a student the same "test bank" tests and eventually they will come to recognize the same problems in the actual tests.  To me this is a serious issue.  Instead of relying on "standardized" tests, which teachers have access to, we should rely more on standards of learning.  Lets make sure the students are learning the material, not the answers to the test questions.

This brings us to another important issue: teacher pay.  I don't think it is fair to us, the taxpayers, or to the children, colloquially known as the "future of our country", to pay teachers based not on how well they teach, but by how long they have been teaching.  This goes hand in hand with the standardized test issue.  If students are basically given the answers for the tests, how do we know that teachers are really teaching?  They grade the tests and homework they give out, for the most part anyway.  Therefore, we can not base a teacher's performance off of classwork, homework, or test grades.  What we need is a truly standardized test system which basis it's content off of the material which should be included in a course/grade's curriculum.   We should have tests for every "course" covered in a grade year, with the exception of foreign languages and other "elective" classes.  Reading, writing, math, science, social-studies, etc.  The questions which comprise this test should be reviewed and reevaluated yearly and changed just as often.  There should be no "test bank" for teachers to pull a "practice"  EOG/EOC from.  Lest test our teachers ability to teach as much as we test the students ability to learn and pay accordingly.

Many agree that private schools better educate their students than public schools.  At the same time many public schools out perform other schools in the same areas.  Not every one can afford to send their kids to private school or to move to a new school district.  That's why I think that private school vouchers and school choice in general are important ideas.  If I live in a school district where test scores are lower and class sizes are larger, but the next district over has smaller classes and better scores I think that my children deserve the opportunity to attend the better school.  The same can be said of private schools.  IF I pay my taxes and choose to send my kids to a private school then i am paying for a service (public schools) which I am not using.  Let's not get into the "cops and firefighters" argument here.  We all use them all the time, every minute of everyday.  Think I am wrong?  If your neighbor's house catches on fire and no firefighters respond your house could be next or your kid's school/daycare.  If the police fail to stop a reckless driver he could end up smashing into you two miles down the road.  Get my point?  I use the cops all the time, I know it and I am proud to say that a portion of my tax dollars go to training and paying these brave men and women who serve us all everyday.  But enough with that.  If I don't use the schools I don't sue the schools, plain and simple.  I feel like I am getting ripped off right now just knowing that somewhere in this state my tax dollars just helped fund a place where some one else's kids got another person's kid knocked-up or worse.  Why?  Because I don't have any kids in school and therefore I am paying fora service I am not using, and if I am not suing it, someone else must be... Let them pay the taxes on it.  I know, I sound "greedy" but please let's not go there...

Oh and of course I just know I'm going to hear something about the  costs...  I don't want to raise taxes, so if we must sacrifice, let's do it the right way.  Football, Marching Band, Science Olympiad, etc etc etc.  If they have to take a hit, let them.  If we must give up something I'm fine with cutting middle/high school athletics in favor of better education.  Actually the sports teams could do like many little league teams do and find a local corporate sponsor to help provide the necessary funds.  I'd be cool with that.  The kids still get to play sports and local companies get some really good advertising...

But, hey I'm just one guy, one tax payer and to be honest I'm not even a parent.  But I still care about the kids...  What do you guys think(non-gender specific here, I'm addressing the group as a whole, especially the parents our there...)?