Longer School Year. Really?

The news that crossed my computer this morning requested comments on a trend in current education.  It seems that several states are considering a change in the school calendars to make the school year longer.  The desire is to get the American children on a level with the children in other countries.  It was felt with longer winter breaks and shorter summer breaks children would learn more and lose less.  (That statement alone made me question an educator somewhere.)

I'm afraid, as a former educator myself, I have some pretty strong opinions on the state of the education system.  You may not agree and if you don't, feel free to share your comments, but here goes.

I think, we as a society, have created this problem, not the schools.  For years we have focused on the idea that the schools aren't doing their job, so we need to force  the teachers to fix it.  They can't fix the loss in the value of education.  The American people have become so accustomed to the idea that everyone has a "right" to education that they no longer value the achievement of an education.

Every child has a guaranteed education provided for a minimum of 13 years.  All they have to do is show up....and did I mention they need to actually try?  So many of our children have lost the desire to achieve and succeed that they just show up.  Why?  Well, I see several reasons. 

One, is that we seldom value something that requires no effort on our part.  Our parents and grandparents struggled to obtain an education when it wasn't so freely given.  Our forefathers actually saw education as something available only to the privileged few and in an effort to create a society with advantages for the masses created an educational system that gave this privilege to every child.  The problem is that, like a child that is given candy all the time, he soon loses the idea of candy being something special.  We have finally reached the stage where students feel that it is the responsibility of the nation, state, school and teachers but not necessarily theirs.  You've heard the old saying "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink".  Well, we have lost the thirst and desire for education in our children.

Not all children or every child.  I think that students come to school initially like sponges ready to soak up every scrap of knowledge that comes their way.  So what happens to the kids as the get older?

Maybe we quit challenging them.  I was appalled when I was asked to judge a small 4-H event several years ago.  The club leader pulled me to the side and whispered in my ear.  "Don't worry about really judging, we're giving all the kids blue ribbons.  We don't want to discourage them."  What about encouraging them to strive for achievement?  If it doesn't matter if you do a good job or a lousy job, why try at all.  Think about your life.  Are the achievements that you prize the ones that just happened to everyone or the ones that you struggled for and worked for? 

Maybe we have failed to show them the importance of an education.  We have created a society where the very availability of an education has meant that it has become so common as to be no longer prized.  We tend to prize those things which are rare..we prize diamonds over coal.   In the process of making it so obtainable we have devalued the product.  We also have demeaned the product.  Are you familiar with the concept of gradeless grades?  That's what I call the idea of giving letters or marks for grades that don't give you a clue as to their value.  That is so the child that is not doing well can have the same feeling as the child that is doing exceptional.  Huh???  If you don't know that you aren't or are succeeding, why try harder? 

Maybe we have given our students the idea that the goal is simply higher education (post high school degrees).  Not every person in the world needs to be a doctor, lawyer or scientist.  There are many occupations that are gainful and rewarding that don't require an advanced college degree.  That doesn't, however, mean that they don't require a basic education and advanced study and training.  Have we given our kids the idea that if they are to become a plumber or electrician that they don't need to know anything but that?  Have we given them the idea that they can quit trying if they aren't planning on another 4-8 years of education beyond high school?  (Maybe they need to drive around a small town.  The plumber and electrician usually have the nicest homes.  Skilled labor is not without value!)

Maybe we have failed as parents to support, encourage, and demand success and application in school.  I'm afraid, in all too many homes, the parents themselves don't appreciate the importance of striving in school.  It's hard to encourage a child to do homework or even strive to learn when the parents ignore the effort or worse, ridicule the effort.  How can you encourage a child to read when you know that about the only reading material in their house is the back of a ketchup bottle?  Too many of our parents see school as something that is someone else's responsibility.  Their job is to get the child there and then it's someone else's job to see that they learn. 

What is the answer?  Beats the heck out of me.  I don't have an answer...I wish I did.  It took us maybe a hundred years to get in this shape, I really doubt there is a simple answer. 

I'm pretty sure it isn't just a longer school year.