Dear Arne and Obama,

Read you want to extend the traditional 180 day, 1,146 hour school year because “Young people in other countries are going to school, 25, 30 percent longer than our students here and the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom.”  That begs these questions:

• Why do kids in the Asian countries that outscore U.S. students on math and science tests—Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong—spend fewer total hours in school than U.S. students?

• If you wanted to learn how to play golf, would you rather spend ten hours on the range with me or five with Tiger Woods? When it comes to your children, would you rather send them to a “traditional 180/1,146 school” with an especially strong faculty or a school with an ordinary faculty and an amped up calendar? Is extending the school year more important than improving instructional quality?

• What good would filling your car’s tank do every morning if it had a leak? The leak is wasted time in the form of teachers who are poor classroom managers and schools that allow endless interruptions to instructional time. Is extending the school year more important than figuring out how best to maximize the time currently available?

• You don’t expect teachers to work 25-30% more without an equivalent increase in salary do you? In a state like California, where’s the extra money for increasing instructional time going to come from?

• You have a vision of “schools as the heart of the community.” What about the argument that the family should be the heart of the community? Granted, many families are struggling and would benefit from excellent schools, but at what point does government programming in the form of more comprehensive public schools usurp what has traditionally been the primary responsibility of parents?

• Why would increased instructional time, independent of serious curriculum reform, better prepare students for the “challenges of a new century?”

Sincerely,

Ron

p.s. Would love to play pick up bball the next time I’m in town.