12 hour school days? Extending the school year?

I don't fancy giving teachers more time to show my daughter how to put a condom on a cucumber. Found via Lucianne.com at dailycaller.com;

If Education Secretary Arne Duncan has his way, kids would be spending a lot more time at school — and a three-month summer would be a thing of the past.

Duncan joked with attendees at a luncheon at the National Press Club Tuesday in Washington that he would like schools to stay open 13 months out of the year. Then he told the audience of over 100 that he seriously supports longer school hours.

“In all seriousness, I think schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year,” Duncan said. “This is not just more of the same. There would be a whole variety of after-school programs. Obviously academics would be at the heart of that. But you top it off with dancing, art, drama, music, yearbook, robotics, activities for older siblings and parents, ESL classes.”

He continued by explaining that the American school calendar is antiquated and must be modified so that American students can compete at the highest levels internationally.

“Most people realize that our current day is based on the agrarian economy, and we don’t have too many kids working out in the fields nowadays,” Duncan said. “Schools in countries that are beating us are going to school 25-30 days more than us. If you practice basketball five times a week, you’re gonna be better than the people who practice three times a week.”

Duncan, former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, also announced that 19 states are finalists for an estimated $3.4 billion of federal funding through President Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative.

Race to the Top is part of the Obama administration’s effort to offer incentives to higher performing schools.

“As you guys know, our world has changed, our economy has changed,” said Duncan. “The days of telling kids to go home at 2:30 and having mom there with a peanut butter sandwich, those days are gone. Whether it’s a single parent working one, two, three jobs or two parents working, the hours from 3 o’clock to 7 o’clock are a huge anxiety, and that’s why we have to keep our schools open longer.”

But Duncan explained that although he intends to use the leverage of the federal government to drive reform, he intends to give officials and teachers at the local level the flexibility to improve while also holding them accountable.

“Our blueprint envisions a more humble, realistic federal role in education reform,” Duncan said. “We are a long way in our nation’s capital from our nation’s classrooms. One-sized-fits-all remedies from the federal government don’t work. In fact, one-sized-fits-all remedies tend to stifle creativity at the local level.”

Race to the Top proposes raising academic standards, attracting and keeping the best teachers, improving statewide data systems and promoting collaboration between business leaders and educators.

“Nothing moves people as quickly as the opportunity for more funding, especially at a time like today,” Duncan said.

The 19 states chosen Tuesday will travel to Washington during the second week of August for a peer review session that will assess their educational plans. Delaware and Tennessee have already received $600 million to implement their own school reform plans as a part of Race to the Top.

Duncan highlighted what he describes as a “quiet revolution” that he feels will reform the current education system.

“This quiet revolution is driven by motivated parents who want better educational options for their children,” said Duncan. “They know how important education is to succeed and compete in the global economy, they insist on the very best, and they are willing to sacrifice to make it happen.”

Duncan also envisions a system in which schools’ structural resources such as libraries, gymnasiums and pools are shared among and are more accessible to the community.

“They don’t belong to you, me or the principal. They belong to the community,” Duncan said. “We need to keep schools open longer to where schools become the center of the neighborhood and part of family life. And when the family is learning together, students do very, very well.”

IMO this could be either a good or bad thing. At the top of this post I listed something negative. But as a stay-at-home parent I'll say my housekeeping goes into slow-mo when the kids are home. Gone are the days when we could give them some milk and a plate of cookies after school, then send them out to play sandlot baseball (I'm old enough to remember doing that too!). Instead we have to monitor our kids MUCH more closely than heretofore. Since two of mine are autistic, the attention required is greater.

Had they somewhere safe to go, where they'd be constructively engaged (music lessons, dancing, art & crafts) we'd all be a lot happier. I'd also get ahead of the dust bunnies around here.

So what determines if my girl is learning how to quilt vice how to rubberize fruit & veggies? Parental involvement at the school board level. We get what we work for.

How many stories have appeared in the blogosphere about some idiocy occurring at a school? Quite a lot. How often do those situations get resolved favorably when the local parents band together to express their outrage? Same answer. Not all of the time, but MOST of the time.

The idiot libs and their allies in the teacher unions WILL try all kinds of mischief, as evidenced by the idiocy I cited. More often than not they'll back off PDQ when the shit hits the public fan.

So if more parents are PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE we'd see less monkey business with our kids. It follows that should the school year and hours be extended, it will be districts where the parents strongly voice their opinions to the public servants on local school boards where the children will benefit most. Remember, like it or not those fools on any school board are servants of We The People. Hold them accountable, make them do their damned job and we'll get good results.

Slack off and look for the mischief to start.