Public education is one of those things that we had figured out pretty well, but decided to do away with most things that actually made it so good:
-attending school is privilege, so anyone that decides to disrupt and not follow along is dismissed and has to live with the consequences of their actions.
-most of the time should be dedicated to academic work, but a few hours of vocational, hands on learning is beneficial too. That can be anything from computer programming to cooking, to small engine repair.
- schools should be: elementary 1-6, Jr High 7-9, HS 10-12
- Tracking works.
-Special Ed kids need to be separate from the other kids.
Definitely agree with this. For every kid for who inclusion works, there are 10+ for who it does not. These students drag the class back on everything, every single day. Its not just sometimes they don't get it or need some extra help, its that they're usually grade levels behind in their understanding - by high school there could be students with the aptitude of a 5th grader in a 12th grade class. Imagine being asked to teach that individual the same content and hold the pace of the class to one they can keep up with, there is just no way it can work.
Public education is one of those things that we had figured out pretty well, but decided to do away with most things that actually made it so good:
-attending school is privilege, so anyone that decides to disrupt and not follow along is dismissed and has to live with the consequences of their actions.
-most of the time should be dedicated to academic work, but a few hours of vocational, hands on learning is beneficial too. That can be anything from computer programming to cooking, to small engine repair.
- schools should be: elementary 1-6, Jr High 7-9, HS 10-12
- Tracking works.
-Special Ed kids need to be separate from the other kids.
attending school is a federal right: FAPE.
no prek? no K? first grade standards require students to write paragraphs. they're supposed to learn letter sounds, blending, decoding, and writing all in first grade?
Public education is one of those things that we had figured out pretty well, but decided to do away with most things that actually made it so good:
-attending school is privilege, so anyone that decides to disrupt and not follow along is dismissed and has to live with the consequences of their actions.
-most of the time should be dedicated to academic work, but a few hours of vocational, hands on learning is beneficial too. That can be anything from computer programming to cooking, to small engine repair.
- schools should be: elementary 1-6, Jr High 7-9, HS 10-12
- Tracking works.
-Special Ed kids need to be separate from the other kids.
Definitely agree with this. For every kid for who inclusion works, there are 10+ for who it does not. These students drag the class back on everything, every single day. Its not just sometimes they don't get it or need some extra help, its that they're usually grade levels behind in their understanding - by high school there could be students with the aptitude of a 5th grader in a 12th grade class. Imagine being asked to teach that individual the same content and hold the pace of the class to one they can keep up with, there is just no way it can work.
less than 40% of 12th graders are working on grade level, so what are you talking about?
I don't understand why we force high schoolers to spend so much time in the classroom. When you were in college, you didn't sit in a lecture hall 30 hours per week. Because that isn't the optimal way to learn. The optimal way to learn is to spend a small amount of time in the classroom and then to spend a ton of time digging into the material outside of class.
The idea that one has to be physically in a school building 8 hours per day, 5 days per week in order to learn is just baffling to me. No college or med school operates this way because it is NOT the best way to learn.
A four day school week should be easily accomplishable simply by shifting in-class learning to self directed study. Labs and discussion groups need to be in person. You need enough of a lecture to solidify and clarify concepts. That easily leaves you with one day per week that can be devoted to activities that don't require you to show up at the school building.
People who complain about teachers wouldn’t last a week trying to keep the average classroom under control. No one wants to do this job for a reason.
level 1 people who finished HS or didn't major in education wanting to dictate to college educated teachers how to do their job.
level 2 is we're using anecdotes of the one gay book in the whole library, or teaching the civil war or reconstruction honestly in the south, as excuses to try and defund public schools and libraries so some millionaire can get his taxes back and buy a yacht.
I've long thought that the ideal four-day work (or school) week would be M-T-Th-F, with Wednesdays off. Every day of work/school would either be the day after a break or the day before. Those are usually better days.
I don't understand why we force high schoolers to spend so much time in the classroom. When you were in college, you didn't sit in a lecture hall 30 hours per week. Because that isn't the optimal way to learn. The optimal way to learn is to spend a small amount of time in the classroom and then to spend a ton of time digging into the material outside of class.
The idea that one has to be physically in a school building 8 hours per day, 5 days per week in order to learn is just baffling to me. No college or med school operates this way because it is NOT the best way to learn.
A four day school week should be easily accomplishable simply by shifting in-class learning to self directed study. Labs and discussion groups need to be in person. You need enough of a lecture to solidify and clarify concepts. That easily leaves you with one day per week that can be devoted to activities that don't require you to show up at the school building.
And how does this work for 1st and 2nd graders exactly? I'm all for less sitting to learn but parents need to have work and school align.
Teachers are so lazy these days only work 9 months of the year and get every holiday under the sun off + the summer but god forbid they teach the youth of America 5 days a week
I remember reading about a school system in NM that did this way back in the late 80's. It was hugely popular. If I remember correctly they only had 4 day weeks for HS.
The big positives were the savings from just not operating the school one less day per week. They noted how much they save just on toilet paper, custodial staff etc.. Also they used their Friday "off" day to have club meetings, and all that stuff that gets jammed into a school day.
Everyone loved it, except the few people that groused about them "getting away" with only working 4 days.
I bet back then families could afford a stay at home parent. So will all the companies follow suit so a parent can stay home with the kids ?
I remember reading about a school system in NM that did this way back in the late 80's. It was hugely popular. If I remember correctly they only had 4 day weeks for HS.
The big positives were the savings from just not operating the school one less day per week. They noted how much they save just on toilet paper, custodial staff etc.. Also they used their Friday "off" day to have club meetings, and all that stuff that gets jammed into a school day.
Everyone loved it, except the few people that groused about them "getting away" with only working 4 days.
I bet back then families could afford a stay at home parent. So will all the companies follow suit so a parent can stay home with the kids ?
It's one day and the only schools that were not opened on fridays were HSs, so those kids can stay at home without a parent.
I'm a retired teacher. I don't see how that will retain teachers unless it's seen as a way to justify low pay so the teachers have a 3 day weekend to get an additional job.
I didn't read the article and I'm not going to waste my time. Pay teachers and have high standards for them.
Wrong. Teachers get paid plenty. Teacher salaries are in line with those of other careers, except with other careers you have to work all year and usually you don't get off all the holidays. Teachers also have plan periods, which is getting paid for a glorified nap at work.
They want 12 months of pay while working for 9 months and then complain they are underpaid. If I worked 9 months out of the year, I would only expect to get that type of pay. And the results the last few years indicate they aren’t even doing a good job, so maybe they need pay decrease until they can get better results.
I've long thought that the ideal four-day work (or school) week would be M-T-Th-F, with Wednesdays off. Every day of work/school would either be the day after a break or the day before. Those are usually better days.
We actually did something similar to this during the 20-21 school year at the middle school and high school level. About 15% of our students were fully virtual and the rest in-person. We taught in person M/T/Th/F (virtual students did adapted work at home) and then all students had a virtual assignment on Wednesdays. Teachers still reported to work on Wednesdays and spent half the day offering office hours through Teams and the other half of the day was planning (primarily to create content for virtual learners).
From a personal perspective, it was fantastic. Having a 2.5 hour focused block once a week to prep and grade was phenomenal. I got so much done, was always up to date with grading, had time to adjust lessons, and had great work/life balance. Parents started to get a glimpse of their student's true habits as they worked from home and communication and cooperation was up. I really felt like I was a great teacher that year.
For a grades/student learning perspective it was a mixed bag. Students that did the virtual assignment weekly (usually something like conclusion questions for a lab we'd done M/T or a short guided notes on content we'd cover Th/F) did great. Students that actually popped in to office hours (only 5-10% of students took advantage) absolutely thrived because I had so much individual time with them. Unfortunately about 30-40% of students did absolutely nothing on Wednesday and just feel further and further behind. I still see the ramifications now - my lower 25% of students are MUCH lower than in my first 5-10 years of education. It really widened the gap between your stronger and weaker students. I loved this set up personally, but not sure it's the best long term for our society.
I don't understand why we force high schoolers to spend so much time in the classroom. When you were in college, you didn't sit in a lecture hall 30 hours per week. Because that isn't the optimal way to learn. The optimal way to learn is to spend a small amount of time in the classroom and then to spend a ton of time digging into the material outside of class.
The idea that one has to be physically in a school building 8 hours per day, 5 days per week in order to learn is just baffling to me. No college or med school operates this way because it is NOT the best way to learn.
A four day school week should be easily accomplishable simply by shifting in-class learning to self directed study. Labs and discussion groups need to be in person. You need enough of a lecture to solidify and clarify concepts. That easily leaves you with one day per week that can be devoted to activities that don't require you to show up at the school building.
This x100.
HS should be a lot more like college, instead it looks just like middle school. 17 & 18 year olds are being taught and have the same rules as 10 and 12 year olds.
I don't understand why we force high schoolers to spend so much time in the classroom. When you were in college, you didn't sit in a lecture hall 30 hours per week. Because that isn't the optimal way to learn. The optimal way to learn is to spend a small amount of time in the classroom and then to spend a ton of time digging into the material outside of class.
The idea that one has to be physically in a school building 8 hours per day, 5 days per week in order to learn is just baffling to me. No college or med school operates this way because it is NOT the best way to learn.
A four day school week should be easily accomplishable simply by shifting in-class learning to self directed study. Labs and discussion groups need to be in person. You need enough of a lecture to solidify and clarify concepts. That easily leaves you with one day per week that can be devoted to activities that don't require you to show up at the school building.
This x100.
HS should be a lot more like college, instead it looks just like middle school. 17 & 18 year olds are being taught and have the same rules as 10 and 12 year olds.
Because it is about the babysitting, not the learning. HS's look like middle schools because parents need a place with authority figures around their children for most of the day.
Argumetns about the needs of the students, their maturity, etc. are fighting against this culture we've created where people aged 14-18 can't be left alone for significant amounts of time. Some private schools adopt more of a collegiate model, but that isn't the norm because of American culture. This is also the reason arguments for a 4 day school week will fall flat in most of American suburbia.
Even in the public school, instruction for top students - those taking AP and dual enrollment classes can look a lot different than for the average student, but we're talking about maybe 15% of the population max. The issue is that school fulfills a dual role - babysitting and instruction.
Definitely agree with this. For every kid for who inclusion works, there are 10+ for who it does not. These students drag the class back on everything, every single day. Its not just sometimes they don't get it or need some extra help, its that they're usually grade levels behind in their understanding - by high school there could be students with the aptitude of a 5th grader in a 12th grade class. Imagine being asked to teach that individual the same content and hold the pace of the class to one they can keep up with, there is just no way it can work.
less than 40% of 12th graders are working on grade level, so what are you talking about?
It isn't hard. Sure, the majority of students might be under grade level, but a student with an IEP might be far below grade level. For example, in an 11th grade classroom, the majority of regular ed. students might be working at a 9th grade level; however, the classroom might have, say, five students with IEPs, all working at a 3rd to 5th grade level. This is the reality in classrooms, and it does not work for anyone involved.
A friend moved to Chino Valley, AZ where the school week was only four days. They were thrilled that their two grandsons only attended school 4 days a week with all activities being held on Fridays. After two years, they shared that the school district still struggled to attract teachers. A novel plan of converting elementary school property to build Accessory Dwelling Units for future teachers from the Philippines was proposed. These teachers would be on work H-1B or J-1 visas.