Obama plays summer school czar
The community organizer-in-chief is now pushing schools to cut back on summer vacation. Local control, schmocal control:
Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.
Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.
“Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas,” the president said earlier this year. “Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom.”
The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.
“Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
If schools wasted less time on “social justice,” “Everyday Math” crap, eco-zealotry, field trips to gay weddings and illegal alien day labor centers, rappin’, revolution, and radicalism, and searching for children’s “inner Obamas,” they wouldn’t need to make up all the squandered days and weeks during the summer.
***
Speaking of wasted classroom time, here’s the latest explanation from the Burlington Township NJ superintendent who oversees B. Bernice Young Elementary School, home of the infamous Obama Praise Hymn Video. He’s not upset about the hymn. He’s upset about the recording:
September 25, 2009
Dear Burlington Township Families:
By now, we’re sure that you are aware of a video placed on the Internet that has been reported heavily by the media. The video is of a class of students singing a song about President Obama.
Over the past two days we have been able to learn more about this situation and would like to provide you with some additional information. The song was one of eight skits performed during a February 2009 program that included second grade classes. Parents attended the program which took place on February 27, 2009. The other skits in the program included Groundhog Day, Chinese New Year, Abraham Lincoln, Valentine’s Day, George Washington, Mardi Gras, and Dental Health Month. The song about President Obama was in recognition of Black History Month. We have been informed that the lyrics of the song were sent home with the children in advance of the assembly, which was the teacher’s normal procedure. There were no concerns or complaints prior to, during, or after the program.
On March 23, 2009, an author visited the Young School as part of the school’s Women’s History Month recognition. As is usual procedure, parents were notified prior to the visit and invited to attend. The author presented two assemblies during which she read from two of her books. She also met with the Teen Book Club at our high school and did an evening book signing for parents and children. The author was accompanied by two individuals. After the first assembly on March 23rd, the class that performed the song at the February assembly about President Obama provided a special performance for the author, since one of the books she wrote was about Barack Obama. We were informed by a representative of the author that one of the individuals who accompanied the author video recorded the performance. School staff had no knowledge of the recording.
We have learned that the video was posted on the author’s website without district approval or knowledge. It appears that another party copied the video from the author’s website and placed it on YouTube. We have been informed that the video has been removed from the author’s website.
Our district takes measures to ensure that our children’s privacy is protected. We are carefully evaluating what occurred and will implement any additional needed procedures to prevent children’s images in school from being publicly posted without permission. We will also provide reasonable direction and guidelines so that classroom activities will not give the appearance of promoting a particular political perspective.
Now he’s worried about the “appearance of promoting a particular political perspective?” What did he expect he’d get from the author of “I Am Barack Obama?!”
FYI: Two years ago, I reported on mock terrorism drills at Burlington Township H.S. that substituted armed Christian “Crusaders” for Islamic jihadists.
In other words: The district has already been in trouble for promoting a “particular political perspective” before.
Strike two.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Cincinnati-Area School Pays Kids to… Show Up to School
February 13, 2012 09:43 PM by Doug Powers
12 CommentsColumbia University to Offer ‘Occupy 101′ Course
January 2, 2012 11:15 AM by Doug Powers
75 Comments
Document drop: What Scholastic is teaching your kids about the Occupiers
December 9, 2011 11:30 AM by Michelle Malkin
102 Comments
Moonbat of the day: Suffolk Univ. law prof condemns sending care packages to troops, flying American flag
November 14, 2011 08:36 PM by Michelle Malkin
46 CommentsWisconsin: 4th Grade Teacher Takes Class to Protest at Capitol
November 4, 2011 10:44 AM by Doug Powers
124 Comments
Colorado bellwether: Voters reject statewide tax increases
November 1, 2011 10:46 PM by Michelle Malkin
65 Comments
The EduJobs III Bailout; Update – Harry Reid: Who cares about private sector jobs?
October 19, 2011 04:38 AM by Michelle Malkin
94 Comments
PC Educator of the Week: Thanksgiving, Columbus Day are Insensitive Holidays
October 15, 2011 12:06 PM by Doug Powers
41 Comments
Categories: Education
Weekly Standard
» White House Economic Adviser: 'We Need a Global Minimum Tax'Pundit & Pundette
» Bishop Jenky, Nicki Minaj, and the "98%"JustOneMinute
» We Hear From The Department Of Good Ideas And False ChoicesWeekly Standard
» Obamacare Could Require Private Insurers to Fund Abortion on Demand
Where is the evidence that local school boards are ceding control to the federal government? Because the president offered an opinion?
Next…
Did anyone else notice that this came just in time for the Obama Youth songs? The real plan is for three more months of indoctrination.
Presidential opinions and suggestions carry more weight than your’s or mine and the appearance is that he intends to pursue implementation of his opinion. We’ll see.
While BHO might think that year round indoctrination would be better, he’s forgetting that the teacher’s union will have a fit and to say nothing about the increased costs of extending the school year. But then, when did he ever worry about increasing taxes? The public isn’t getting its money’s worth from public schools now.
Red State: Every school district in the country is required by law to follow NCLB (one of GW Bush’s greatest follies). If the President and the Dept. of Education mandate ANY school policy that will determine whether or not a school can receive federal funds, you better believe that local districts are making adherence to that policy goal number one; educating kids is farther down on the list.
As a public school teacher, I have no problem with the concept of “year-round” schooling. What I do have a problem with is adding more days to the calendar year without addressing the problems in our education system. It would be like approving a minimum wage hike during a recession… or pushing for government takeover of a health care system that needs reform, and essentially repackaging the same thing under federal control. We’ll only be reinforcing bad learning if we simply add more days or dollars to our current ed system.
Here’s what I think we need, in a nutshell: 1) Get rid of the Department of Education; 2) empower regional superintendents with the job the DOE is currently doing; 3) get private businesses involved in helping to determine what skills are needed in specific states and regions; 4) let local districts have more say in what curricula to follow; 5) allow for more school choice; 6) merit pay for teachers; and 7) disband the NEA (at the very least, give teachers and districts a choice in whether or not they are members— my state is forced union, so we end up bending over for the union even if we have resigned membership). It’s a start, anyway. Just adding more hours to the day or more days to the year will do absolutely nothing to help schools improve. It’s about quality, not quantity.
Step 1: Add air conditioning to all public schools.
Step 2: Add 10% to our grid capacity via nuclear power plants to accommodate extended school years.
Step 3: Keep trying to do steps 1 and 2 through years of enviro-whacko lawsuits.
Step 4: Get back to me about taking power over kids’ education away from parents and more local, responsive government.
Frankly, my kids are so involved and busy, I breathe a sigh of relief when summer break starts. We are all more than ready for it.
Although summer break is a tradition from our farming history, it also provides greater family time as well as the opportunity to learn things outside of school.
For example, over the years, my kids have gone to basketball camp, ballet summer intensive, football camp, a French class trip to France, a fishing/camping trip, hiking, biking, odd jobs for friends and family to earn some cash, volunteer work, and summer reading programs. I’m sure there are some that I’m forgetting.
I get some relief because they take over a lot of chores so that I don’t have to do them after work and on weekends. That way, we get to do some fun things together.
There’s a lot of learning to be done in life outside of a school classroom. Parents and other committed adults are teachers too, without the Dept of Education certification.
There are plenty of local programs to help struggling kids during the summer and that’s how it should remain – local.
I support year round school. Although I most certainly agree that much of the agenda in too many schools is crap.
My six y/o just started at public school this year. I give kudos to the District for opting out of the Obama speech. But I’m used to a private school that was only closed six days per year. In September alone, they have had three days off!
I also find how they cloister the kids off, making it virtually impossible to meet the teacher, see what goes on in the classroom, and know who the other students are that my son spends time with rather strange given all the Dear Leader rubbish that’s happened since January.
Maybe a longer school day could permit a half hour at the beginning and end of the day when parents can be present in the room to get some idea of what the Hell is going on with our kids education.
But the teachers will never go for more work days, and Obama the Progenitor won’t go for parental
involvementinterference.Michelle, get to bed! You need rest! Or, maybe you are up with your child again. Get well soon to both of you.
Go back to Hell, Obama, where you came from!
Demonic! Demonic!
Don’t ya just love watching liberals throw each other under the bus?
Sheesh.
Ummm … yeah.
If you believe that, please contact me right away. I have a great deal for you on some oceanfront property in Aspen, Colorado!
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
In the words of one of my favorite people …
Nah, they won’t do that. Id sounds too much like right.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Full disclosure: I have no issue with the disctrict putting this performance on with parental approval. I do, however, have an issue with doing it behind that backs of the rest of the Burlington Township taxpayers (who actually paid for it). Were they informed about what was going on?
From my personal contacts with friends in Burlington Township, I highly doubt it.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
IT sounds too much like right …
RWR, the preview button is your friend …
RWR
ww.rightwingrocker.com
I enjoy the summer vacation time with my kids. We go camping, to the zoo, etc.
KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY CHILDREN OBAMA!
This guy, since his election, has been putting his hands into everything. Somehow, he thinks that the office of potus runs the whole show. Maybe he thinks he’s another Chavez or Castro.
I am so glad my children are grown. Parents today have to be ever vigilant with what their kids are being taught! Thank you, Michelle, for keeping parents aware. Now all I have to worry about is my Army grandson’s CIC!
Since the President is suddenly in the opinion-offering business, has he opined about raising property-based taxes 10%, 20%, 30% or more to pay for this?
Wonder what new words the children can come up with NOW for BHO’s songfest. . .no more nice lyrics!
Michele hit the nail on the head – stop the social engineering, sex education, diversity training, useless eco messages in every science lesson, and all the non-essentials that do not contribute to building a sound, basic, educational foundation.
The only thing more time in the classroom will provide is additional time for liberal indoctrination.
And I agree with an earlier post. Get rid of both DOEs – Dept of Education and Dept of Energy – both came into being during the Carter administration and neither has succeeded at their stated purpose.
And one other necessary item for the public schools – cut the administrative costs in half. School districts are invested too heavily in the top level paper shufflers.
I’m guessing we won’t be allowed to see what goes on inside the schools anymore. Video and audio taping in schools will soon be a federal crime.
Maybe implement some TSA style searches for parents attending the third grade plays is a good idea. Keeping us all safe, you know.
I’m with Red State Skeptic on this one. POTUS has a bully pulpit, and he’s allowed to use it. As long as he doesn’t try to mandate anything, it’s his prerogative.
And, btw, he’s right on this one. I agree with Michelle that there is far too much wasted time, but that doesn’t change the fact that kids in Europe and Asia are in school a lot more than our own kids.
It’s a competitive world, and we have to compete.
Our teachers are already paid the same salaries that people who work 2,000/hours a year are paid. Let’s see them actually work those hours…
On September 28th, 2009 at 3:43 am, rightwingrocker said:
That used to be a plank in the GOP platform, but it disappeared with….Bush, I think.
Both parties are essentially the same.
This is not new news but the apparently the media are finally paying attention. Basically, Obama and Duncan think we should emulate South Korea.
Obama’s children who go to a private school with long summer vacations and would be exempt from the rules he wishes to impose on us peons. Sidwell Friends does not start until after Labor Day and they get out in early June. I guarantee you that they are not going to change their calendar to satisfy the Obamas (who themselves managed to fare quite nicely with summers off).
Moreover, it is a myth that the school calendars were set up to give summers off only because of the agrarian economy. That is only one factor. Educators used to believe (correctly) that children needed summers off. Also, diseases like polio were more prevalent during the summer and children were taken out of urban settings and sent to the country where they were safer.
I agree with RSS in spirit on this one. The only way Obama will get his way is if he’s allowed to. To those charging the extra time will be spent on programs to praise Obama and “Social Justice” indoctrination, do not let anyone tell you that you are nuts.
Obama wants Young Pioneers, not students. He and Ayers have dreamed of a system like this for years. A polite, but firm, “H@11 No!” is required on this occasion.
Tossing out all of the clutter MM describes in her article is the eaisest and best way to get our children focused on their studies.
Lets see the kids need diversity training, then they need sex training and then what ever else the government decides they need. All the time the kids are lacking in reading, writing, math, history and social studies. Just look at what them did with black history month. Get Obama and his ilk and the government the hell out of education.
Soory, but political agebnda’s aside, U.S. kids have a waay too long a summer vacation.
My son for example, loses a month of instruction at the beginning of the school year just to get reaquainted with concepts -math for example that he and others might othwerwise not need remedial work if the school year was longer.
Schools to serve every social issue EXCEPT educating children in the basics they can really use in life.
That our long summer vacation were not ideal to education is long known (I loved them) and here in the Southwest air-conditioning has changed that to a degree. But that is a local issue and NOT would be President of Every Detail of Our Lives Obama and Czars.
I guess this crap really started with an innocuous sounding School Milk Program that morphed into a billions of dollars School Lunch Program the Feds use to intimidate local schools.
Give any people power over others and all too many of them will abuse it as a matter of course, the Department of Education being a prime example.
There are signs up all summer long in SPANISH advertising that our school disctrict gives away free lunches all summer to any kids that want them…no questions asked.
Of course Barack wants more time in the classroom – for indoctrination. Kids I know in school now come home so loaded down with homework some parents have called teachers and asked them to back off so they can have some family time. I suspect, and this is just me thinking, the reason the drop out rate is so high is because kids are tired of getting indoctrinated instead of getting educated.
The schools also get tons of federal dollars for “special needs” kids. This could be as simple as getting over a speech impediment or remedial reading. Of course, once they’re in the program, good luck ever getting them out.
Ever wonder why it seems there are so many “special” kids? Now you know.
Knowing how even unionbrainwashed teachers enjoy their summer vacations over in europe, what is *their* response to barry hussien’s retarded notion?
Follow the link and read the entire AP story. According to the article, US kids already spend MORE time in the classroom than kids in Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong.
As has already been said so eloquently, it’s QUALITY not quantity.
I mentioned this to three 14 yr. old boys who didn’t like the idea at all. One astute youth said it sounded like “babysitting”. Exactly. Mandatory daycare for all children at the taxpayers expense. One boy had been homeschooled all his life, this was his first year of “real” school. He said he’d go back to homeschooling if they mandated school all year.
That’s a good point. I know only one school in my area with AC and they rarely use it due to energy costs.
So when temps go high before school is out, like they did about a year ago, they close the schools.
So how’s this school in July thing going to happen? Not with LOT AND LOTS OF YOUR TAX MONEY.
But that hasn’t stopped Obama yet.
Home schooling is looking better every day….
err….
Not withOUT lots and lots of your tax money.
They assume there is an unending supply. If they have their way we will give all we have to the State in return for food, clothing. and fuel rations based on correctness of our thoughts.
From the article:
Uh, huh…I Won seems to think we need him to save us…. /sarc. Obviously he thinks of all kids as being in some sort of danger if they aren’t within the ‘safe’ confines of a public school.
Newsflash, BO, that’s what parents are for, to keep their kids safe – not all parents are MIA. In addition, there are organizations that already provide a ‘safe place’ for those kids who’s parents aren’t (or can’t) be there after school; the Boys and Girls Clubs are just one example.
Even, gasp! some churches work with the community to provide a safe alternative for kids after school, especially on the all too numerous ‘early release’ days when parents are still at work when the schools let kids out.
They ought to cut out a few of those half-days before talking about instituting a longer school year – and knock off all the ‘diversity training’ and ‘self-esteem’ nonsense. Try correcting spelling and grammar for starters, instead of trying to ‘make kids feel good about themselves’. If the schools focused on real academics we’d see a difference.
…kids whose parents…
The school year was based on the agraian calendar so the kids could help plant/harvest crops on the farm. How outdated is that? Improving education has always been about throwing money at it; however, when our city and county schools merged, no administrator lost their job except through retirement. We pay one to drive around during the wee hrs of the a.m. to determine if the schools should close for a snow day. The double-dipping among superintendents is legendary.
The president also had an opinion about public health care back when he was running for president.
When I read this, I was originally going to make a comment that teachers don’t get paid diddly, but when I did the research, I realized their pay has gotten better over the years, apparently. According to this link:
http://www.aft.org/salary/
The average of public school teacher’s salary is $51,009. If you divide that over a year at 9 hours a day, 9 months a year (2430 hours), you get an hourly rate of $21.00 an hour. Let me know if my math is wrong, and I’m not for year-round school, but it does seem that you’re right, Rob. Teachers get paid pretty well already.
Here ya go.
Oh, that is going to go over well with the teachers’ unions! They already have so many days off during the year, and days where the students get out early. Cut me some slack! The last thing the unions want is for the teachers to do more work.
Unless of course it mean hiring more teachers? Naw, it wouldn’t be that!
Actually, the more time spent in public schools is what puts the students at a disadvantage! In 4th grade, before the full force and effect of public school
indoctrinationeducation can take hold, our students are either in the top 5% or close to it, compared to the rest of the world.By 12th grade, after the teachers have done their
damageteaching, our students are in the bottom 5%, compared to the rest of the world.No other country makes that big of a fall.
Now they want to give the teaches more time to do…what? Educate the children?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
We need summer vacation…the entire 3 months, to deprogram our kids and share some family time. I agree with the other posters who emphasized that is it quality, not quantity. Just remove all the ridiculous radical left-wing propaganda and you will have plenty of time to teach these kids well!! Liberalism is a form of insanity and we must stop letting the inmates run the asylum.
Actually, a study was done that concluded this very thing. They found that they just couldn’t rate pay to pay, because teachers get so much time off! Apparently, when the rest of us are working during the summer (to pay for high teachers’ salaries) the teachers feel the need to get this time off. Like it was a right.
So, the only answer was to break the pay down to an hourly basis. When that was done, the teachers were found to be better paid than everyone except for doctors, lawyers, and judges.
No wonder why the teachers’ unions don’t want students learning math too well!
He’s going to have a mob of sugar crazed kids chasing him down with their pencil sharpeners. He needs to keep his opinion to himself. I doubt his daughters would agree. Homeschool rules!! We teach all year.
PH, 39 weeks @ 45 hours per week = 1,755, not 2,430, which = $29.06/hr. Deduct another month for
Chistmas & Easter, I mean Winter & Spring breaks and the rate is $32.70. Oh yeah, then there’s MLK day, President’s day, Earth day…what a racket!Dear Mr. President:
Good morning and I am sure you are having a wonderful day in the white house or in air force one flying all over to grace the world with your diatribe. But, here in MY world, those of us who have to live with your government’s stupid actions would like you to stay out of the schools and stop trying to influence the education system. Thank yo soooo much. Or, in other words:
HEY STUPID, KEEP YOUR GRABBY HANDS OFF OF MY KIDS. I, REPEAT I, WILL EDUCATE THEM AS I, REPEAT I, SEE FIT. GET IT?
If we could be assured that the extra classroom time was spent on EDUCATION, I could get behind this idea. But too much time is spent on Democratic indoctrination for me to ever trust Obama’s true intentions.
Mmm, mmm, mmm!
Which is why I support neither.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Actually, teachers are paid on a 10 month scale, it’s just divided into 12 months so we get a check during the summer, too. I usually work about a 50-hour week, not counting the homebound student I teach, the extra-curricular programs I sponsor, or the additional duties, like chaperoning dances, that are a required part of the job. I just did the math, and I make about $21 an hour, hardly excessive for someone with a college degree.
You must be some sort of racist for saying this.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Here are some links that indicate our kids spend less time in the classroom:
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/schoolyear1.html
http://www.seanpaune.com/2009/09/27/obama-school-hours/
What’s fun is if you really dig a bit deeper. Compare how Germans educate their children with Americans. This is fascinating:
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/klein.356/school_hierarchy
Teachers get paid more, because teachers do more – and there is FAR less “administrative” BS to drain valuable $’s away from the kids.
Plus, as said here, a lot less non-essential stuff is taught.
in my humble opinion, i believe our teachers should have to take a proficiency test before they can become teachers. how about an sat test that already exists, and they must score average or above, meaning at least 1000 on the sat. after all, the average high school senior scores that, so shouldn’t their teacher know at least as much as them?
Teachers do have to take proficiency tests. In Texas, where I work, it’s called the TExES test. We have to take two of them, one in the content area, and one on pedagogy. Once you’re certified, you have to renew certification every 5 years. In order to renew, you have to have 30 continuing education hours each year for a total of 150.
You can go to http://www.texes.ets.org/ for information on testing in the state of Texas.
I’ve taken those tests in three states (Indiana, Illinois, and Texas), and passed all three without a problem. When I went for the two most recent (TX and IL) there were people in line who were there for their 4th or 5th time, attempting to pass. Unbelievable! These folks will eventually end up “teaching” your kids.
About 15 years ago, a union steward asked me to break down my hourly pay for bargaining. It came out to something like $6.25/hr. I work all summer, most weekends, and at least three nights a week, though, until 9:00pm. The same can’t be said of a lot of my colleagues. Such is the life of a band director, I guess. But according to them (the other staff members), all I do is wave my arms for a living. Never mind the fact that I have had class sizes as large as 300 (in the room at the same time), have to teach the kids from the bottom, up, and have a side job similar to being an athletic director (scheduling, etc), have to teach theory classes, get extra duties they don’t want dumped on them, and so on. I have never really complained about it, because I love my job, and have always loved the kids under my instruction. Seventeen years later I probably make about $15-20 an hour, but I’d still rather do this than other jobs I’ve had (machine operator, truck driver, factory worker, etc). Seems like it means a lot more when I see the results.
They already do.
It’s called the Praxis, and most states use it. Some older teachers may know it by its previous name, the NTE.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
I really think it is wrong to blame the teachers…. watch that video of those thug kids in Chicago killing that boy… THOSE are the “students” that are sitting in classrooms around this country… How would YOU like to be trying to control a classroom full of those a-holes and illegal aliens?