Chicago teachers union chief faults ‘rich white people’ for city’s education mess

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

In my opinion its a lack of creativity, lack or planning and a lot of finger pointing.

All over the world they've found ways to educate cheaper and with better results. Our schools have the same fundamental structure going back to the 50's.

For one they could stop having summer vacation for 3 months a year and institute year round school.

Take 3 months off your job and see how efficient you'd be for the first 2 months.

The school system irritates me beyond belief.

Summer vacation is 11 weeks here. It was 9 weeks when I went to school. We did just fine then. Don't think the summer break is what ruins it.

[RGinWA 816]

Summer vacation is 11 weeks here. It was 9 weeks when I went to school. We did just fine then. Don't think the summer break is what ruins it.

It may be fine, but it's not the greatest idea for learning. Just getting kids use to getting up again at 6-7am is an issue.

Can anyone tell me the reason why taking 3 months off is necessary at all?

With the current setup, the first month and last month aren't very productive, so that means 5 months out of the year are pretty much wasted. How could that be optimum learning?

For all the advances in technology that we've had, that hasn't transferred into advances in learning in my opinion. Actually the kids go to school less than when I was a child. My son is in by 9am and out by 3pm.

[decocker 7,198]

For all the advances in technology that we've had, that hasn't transferred into advances in learning in my opinion. Actually the kids go to school less than when I was a child. My son is in by 9am and out by 3pm.

how much homework do your kids typically have? my son has always had a ridiculous amount of homework..

[RGinWA 816]

how much homework do your kids typically have? my son has always had a ridiculous amount of homework..

My son is in elementary and he typically has zero. He does it at school before he gets home...so to me, that's not homework.

My daughter was in 8th grade and she doesn't get much until the end of the year; and she's in advanced placement.

I'm one of those parents that ask them daily about school and I haven't seen a lot of homework ever.

Schools in my area of Washington state are ranked fairly low and its been like this since my daughter started kindergarten. I know because I download their data every year. Every couple of years there is a new plan...none of them work...its sad.

Lucky for me my daughter was accepted to a science and math institute, so at least she's going to get a better than average education than in the regular district.

[SaharaSunset 165]

Chicago ! hahahahhahahhaaaa tis the summer, need more shootings.

Carry On!

What an absolutely callus and repulsively disgusting comment to make. Not funny or clever, or witty at all. You do remember Sandy Hook Elementary....20 little 6 year olds' shot in cold blood? Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, but I find your "need more shootings" comment/sense of humor inappropriate, base, and again, absolutely disgusting.

[SaharaSunset 165]

Please ignore my last post. I did misunderstand...I think

[Karee 4,191]

Please ignore my last post. I did misunderstand...I think

When you figure it out, let the rest of us in on it.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

It may be fine, but it's not the greatest idea for learning. Just getting kids use to getting up again at 6-7am is an issue.

Can anyone tell me the reason why taking 3 months off is necessary at all?

With the current setup, the first month and last month aren't very productive, so that means 5 months out of the year are pretty much wasted. How could that be optimum learning?

For all the advances in technology that we've had, that hasn't transferred into advances in learning in my opinion. Actually the kids go to school less than when I was a child. My son is in by 9am and out by 3pm.

The summer break use to be schedule around crop planting and harvesting etc.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Aren't rich white people to blame for everything that happens to poor people?

[Karee 4,191]

The summer break use to be schedule around crop planting and harvesting etc.

Yeah in Thailand they get two school breaks. One for planting rice and one for harvesting rice.

[Darnell 8,479]

What an absolutely callus and repulsively disgusting comment to make. Not funny or clever, or witty at all. You do remember Sandy Hook Elementary....20 little 6 year olds' shot in cold blood? Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, but I find your "need more shootings" comment/sense of humor inappropriate, base, and again, absolutely disgusting.

It's ok - I'm not being callus.

Chicago has a murder-by-handgun problem, most is gang related.

Chicago ISD has a learning problem for it's students. Bush's 'no child-left-behind' law exacerbated the problem even more, but that's really a side-issue.

There is direct co-relation between these two problems, and it's not ME that made the relation. That relation, that link, is direct.

Chicago has been 'trying' to fix the problem almost 20 years now - maybe even 30 years . To 'get a fix', alas, is all political - and Chicago Politics is unlike any other place in the CONUS.

IMO, to decrease gang violence, ya need less gang members. How to make that happen? Shoot more gang members.

IMO, to 'fix' the Chicago problem with the schools, ya gotta flush all the folks wielding political power of any level. Not replace them, mind you (as that perpetuates the political portion of the problem) but flush them. Once the political aspect is gone, then is possible to deal with the gang violence problem. Once the gang violence problem is solved, then MAYBE folk with larger incomes will move back into the school district, and the school district will have a larger tax base in which to fix 'the problem'.

But that's all circumstantial, at the moment. Chicago can't be 'fixed' with the people 'in power' at the moment.

It's not a comparison to any idiot wielding automatic weapons and killing innocent children at a school campus, at all.

I'm sure the thing I was writing about was the 'school is out, temperatures are getting hotter - it's time for more gang-related shootings' as that's the established pattern.

[RGinWA 816]

The summer break use to be schedule around crop planting and harvesting etc.

I thought that also...but I found it was an urban legend.

“Like many other folks, you are in fact mistaken when you refer to ‘an agricultural-based school calendar’ as the explanation of why our schools have the summers-off pattern…This is a common and widespread misconception. Summers off actually has very little to do with agriculture or the old-time rural schools.”

“In the 1840s, however, educational reformers like Horace Mann moved to merge the two calendars out of concern that rural schooling was insufficient and–invoking then current medical theory–that overstimulating young minds could lead to nervous disorders or insanity. Summer emerged as the obvious time for a break: it offered a respite for teachers, meshed with the agrarian calendar and alleviated physicians’ concerns that packing students into sweltering classrooms would promote the spread of disease."

http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2010/06/28/summer-vacation-rural-roots-wrong/

[Bugs 455]

It may be fine, but it's not the greatest idea for learning. Just getting kids use to getting up again at 6-7am is an issue.

Can anyone tell me the reason why taking 3 months off is necessary at all?

With the current setup, the first month and last month aren't very productive, so that means 5 months out of the year are pretty much wasted. How could that be optimum learning?

For all the advances in technology that we've had, that hasn't transferred into advances in learning in my opinion. Actually the kids go to school less than when I was a child. My son is in by 9am and out by 3pm.

Kids are not meant to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, 11 months out of the year. They are not like adults, and to expect them to behave like adults by forcing such a schedule could have catastrophic consequences. I already shudder at how much arts and physical education has taken a hit in a focus on the 3 R's and testing.

One thing I agree with is the length of summer break. I think we need to spread that time off around throughout the school year, perhaps 2-3 week breaks every 3 months. Many school districts do this in fact, and I think it promotes better learning and retention. The only reason the 11 week summer break was ever instituted was the now irrelevant reason of farmers needing the extra hands during the summer.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I thought that also...but I found it was an urban legend.

“Like many other folks, you are in fact mistaken when you refer to ‘an agricultural-based school calendar’ as the explanation of why our schools have the summers-off pattern…This is a common and widespread misconception. Summers off actually has very little to do with agriculture or the old-time rural schools.”

“In the 1840s, however, educational reformers like Horace Mann moved to merge the two calendars out of concern that rural schooling was insufficient and–invoking then current medical theory–that overstimulating young minds could lead to nervous disorders or insanity. Summer emerged as the obvious time for a break: it offered a respite for teachers, meshed with the agrarian calendar and alleviated physicians’ concerns that packing students into sweltering classrooms would promote the spread of disease."

http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2010/06/28/summer-vacation-rural-roots-wrong/

Not where I m from

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Kids are not meant to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, 11 months out of the year. They are not like adults, and to expect them to behave like adults by forcing such a schedule could have catastrophic consequences. I already shudder at how much arts and physical education has taken a hit in a focus on the 3 R's and testing.

One thing I agree with is the length of summer break. I think we need to spread that time off around throughout the school year, perhaps 2-3 week breaks every 3 months. Many school districts do this in fact, and I think it promotes better learning and retention. The only reason the 11 week summer break was ever instituted was the now irrelevant reason of farmers needing the extra hands during the summer.

Having managed alarge group of working poor with kids. Spreading out the breaks wrecks havoc with day care planning.