Re: Just what we need

[Bussardre@aol.com]

The curious thing in this piece in the Washington Times is Romer's apparent  
change of heart about a year-round school calendar.  He and Gingrich  write:
 
"Another area that merits closer inspection is school calendars. Our  current 
academic years continue to be scheduled as if they are straight out of  the 
19th-century agrarian model, when kids were needed during the afternoons and  
summers to help perform work around the home or farm. As a result, American  
children spend less time learning than their foreign peers. If we expect  
American students to be competitive, then we must find ways to get them more  
effective classroom time."
 
Several times when he was LA school supt. he decried the impact of the  
year-round calendar on the schools. 
 
And did Romer not learn anything from the Williams V. California lawsuit in  
which the year-round calendar used more in Los Angeles than any other place in 
 the nation was cited as an education detriment?
 
And Kenneth Gold documented in his book on the origin of the school year  
that the year-round calendar is actually more like the agrarian calendar of  old. 
 
 
Maybe Romer's age has finally caught up with him and his memory is failing  
him.  
 
--Billee Bussard
 
 
In a message dated 12/13/2007 10:09:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
QCao009@aol.com writes:


In a  message dated 12/13/2007 9:13:18 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,   
taunar@plateautel.net  writes:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/EDITORIAL/1
12130005

Advice   from Roy Romer and Newt Gingrich. It's pathetic. Obviously they do 
not  read  Bracey or Rothstein or anything that challenges the conventional  
wisdom. Look  at these snips, just weak paraphrases of  ANAR:

"America is falling  behind its global competitors and the  economic security 
of our children is at  risk."

"If an  American corporation produced such mediocre outcomes,  then the CEO  
would be fired immediately. Yet, American schools continue to  churn  out 
below-average students with no fear of   consequences."



A big "if" which is baseless.  No, our  corporations do not fire the  CEO.  
We 
give him a golden  parachute and send him to the next corporation  to 
practice 
the same  shill.  We reelect the same Yale MBA-bought exec to be  the  
deciderator for another 4 yrs.  The schools are just a reflection  of  our 
social mores 
and our values no longer value knowledge and  education.  

The BOLD thinking that the Bush family pushes is  accountability based  on 
testing ?  Roy and Newt as education  experts?  Was Bennett not  available to 
make 
up the three  stooges ? May be we can give Roy and Newt some  costumes and 
try 
them  out for lion tamers in our next reality show.  That  should connect  
with 
the next gen a whole lot more than the boogey child from   another country.  
Even if we accept the premise that America is  "falling  behind", everything 
these whiners suggested is pushing us  further down.

Quan









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