ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702250008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: READERS' FORUM
Schools have too much control now
ALL THE problems associated with being in school for nine months would only be exacerbated by extending the school year.
The call for year-round schooling is a continuation of the victim mentality of the educational establishment and its political patrons. Whenever attention is drawn to some failure or shortcoming in the state-provided schools, the call goes up for more - more money, more pay, more teachers, more schools, more hours in the school day, more parental compliance, more literacy volunteers, more computers.
Year-round schools would also mean more air-conditioning bills, more peer dependency, more artificial age segregation, more excuses to ask for more of something else, more control of students to the exclusion of other influences. The result would extend the state's near monopoly on young people's sources of information and values. Start them younger, keep them longer each day, keep them all year, provide activities before and after hours (if there are any left), divorce them from the historical and literary roots of their culture. All of these point to the need for parents to reassert their rights and shoulder their responsibilities.
KENNETH W. JOHNSON
ROANOKE
It might improve students' attitude
YEAR-ROUND school would be a great addition to aid the student's ability to learn and have a better attitude toward learning.
I've observed that my own child falls into a plateau or burnout phase each school year. I believe the learning process would become more consistent if, upon completion of a segment of study, children were allowed a break to refresh their attitude toward school and learning.
MARY B. HICKS
ROANOKE
Many more kids] might drop out
YEAR-ROUND school, in my opinion, isn't a good idea. Children are dropping out now, with nine-month schooling. With the prospect of all-year attendance, there is sure to be a larger number of dropouts.
There should be a major break (i.e., summer) for everyone. Children need time to play because they are only young for 15 to 18 years. Then, it's year-round working for the next 60 years.
MARGARET O. MILLER
BOONES MILL
Parents can save money on day care
STUDENTS should go to school all year - 220 days and not the current 180 days. I also think the class day should be longer - 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
This isn't because I'm an ogre or think American children need that much time to learn anything. It's because of the situation many parents find themselves in today.
When my son and many of his classmates are not in school, they are in day care. Good day care is extremely hard to find, assuming you can afford it. I spent more than $3,000 on day care last year. This money could go to fund all-year schools, if school hours are expanded and before/after school care is provided. In a 20-child classroom, this equals an additional $60,000. If this isn't enough, I am willing to pay more. The extra should come from parents, and not other taxpayers.
The extra hours children spend in school could be used to reintroduce the arts. The day could be broken up with more time for gym and recess.
I can see nothing but benefits from extending the school day and school year.
NANCY ROSS
ROANOKE
Lessons will stick with the kids
I AM all for year-round school. I believe children will learn more and not forget as much as they do now over the summer months.
My son has Attention Deficit Disorder, and I feel year-round school will benefit him greatly.
TRICIA PRICE
VINTON
Taxpayers will pay the added costs
I DO NOT favor extending the public-school calendar.
How will this extended calendar be paid for? In an Aug. 12, 1995, editorial (``Reinventing the school year''), you suggested that public schools go to a school calendar of 240 days. That represents a 33.3 percent increase over the current 180 days. Thus, taxpayers are looking at a 33.3 percent increase in salaries for teachers and others.
Let's be a little more realistic. How about 210 contract days? Then the taxpayer would have to increase teachers' salaries only by 17 percent.
I assume anyone who will ask someone to work more will be willing to pay more. However, if taxpayers are not willing to pay teachers any more than they pay them for 180 days, why not have them teach 260 or maybe 360 days?
ALBERT C. HENDRICKS
CHRISTIANSBURG
Focus on what the schools teach
STUDENTS need a nice, long break from the monotony of canned assignments and teachers breathing down their necks.
Longer school years won't help children to learn more. Let's quit comparing America's schools to the elite schools of Europe, which teach a small, highly talented student body.
Let's realize that our schools are already educating children better than they did 50 or 100 years ago when the dropout rate was high and many of the common people couldn't read or write very well. Smart children are going to college at higher rates than ever before, thanks to that natural aristocracy-sorter known as public schools.
Let's focus instead on what schools are teaching, and teach it well. Let's keep in mind that not every child who goes to school can become a calculus expert or a National Merit Scholar. Let's focus on the role practical training and apprenticeships can play in our public schools. If we do this, maybe we can see school years that start in mid-September and end in mid-May!
ANGELA WATKINS
LEXINGTON
Parents should be able to choose
I VIEW year-round schools as yet another attempt to ``fix'' the public-education system. I, too, see the shortcomings of the system, but I disagree with the idea that one fix works for all.
What about those public schools without air conditioning? Can they afford it? If not, what will children learn in classrooms with fans blowing papers off their desks and summertime temperatures in the 90s with high humidity?
The summer job can be an education in itself. It can teach responsibility, the value of a dollar and the value of a college education.
If year-round school becomes a choice, then it will survive or die on its own merits. However, the key word is choice.
SHARON CLABAUGH
FLOYD
Families need not forgo vacations
MY DAUGHTER attended year-round schools for six years in Prince William County. There was no long summer vacation during which to become bored and forget everything learned during the school year. There was a chance for the family to take vacations during any of the four seasons, without taking her out of school.
Every effort was made to have all the children in one family, even in one neighborhood, in school and/or on break at the same time. The students and parents that I knew were very much in favor of the system.
It also meant that less classroom space was needed, as only about 75 percent of the students were in school at a given time.
EUGENE H. HART
ROANOKE
Information boom requires it
I CAN think of at least three positive reasons:
* It would help instill a good work ethic in the students. This is something I find sadly lacking in many of the college students I deal with.
* The amount of information that people in our advanced society have to deal with has increased exponentially in recent decades. Yet we still spend the same amount of time in school.
* In families where both parents work full time (and there are many more now than there used to be), summer presents the problem of having to increase greatly the amount of day care.
ALAN G. HEATH
BLACKSBURG
Learning is a continuous process
IN 1904, year-round schooling was first implemented in Bluffton, Ind. Currently, about 1.7 million students in 39 states benefit from various extended-year educational programs.
There are numerous year-round plans and options that serve the needs of both students and communities.
We must have year-round schools if we're to offer a world-class education for our children.
Learning has always been a continuous process. It's time our schools followed that basic premise.
FAYE O'DELL NOVA
Special-education teacher
Roanoke city schools
ROANOKE
Summer activities would be lost
I DO NOT like the idea of year-round schooling. If you had no summer break, then you would have no time for camps, vacations and some summer schools.
Three weeks isn't time enough for a break, which students need.
KATHRYN WYMER
ROANOKE
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