Arne Duncan, who is the new secretary of education, has some unconventional ideas about education. The one that strikes me most is his idea of extended the school year. This takes me to another discussion of quantity over quality.
The fact that Mr. Duncan makes such a suggestion illustrates his own ignorance of the education system. (Here's an idea: Why don't we hire a teacher for the nation's top education post?) America's students are not lazy, they are simply unprepared for the real-world. My first suggestion to Secretary Duncan would be to scuttle No Child Left Behind. It simply punishes schools for doing poorly. How can you expect anyone to do better if you keep sanctioning them? Instead of taking away money from school districts with low socioeconomic strata, let's infuse them with money so they can hire and retain more and better teachers, invest in technology and modern infrastructure.
By adding ten or twenty days to the school calendar you are doing nothing to address the underlying causes of why our school system is failing.
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