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In and outs of the political campaigns, focusing on Michigan and Lansing, Tim Skubick will report regularly throughout the primary and then general election campaigns.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

220 vs.180

China 220. Michigan 180.
Game over.
Not so fast entones the governor. She thinks this state needs to go
beyond the 180 days the kids spend in school and inch closer to the 220
they have in Communist China. Japan has the same thing btw.
Ah yes, it is back to school week and the governor and other top
educators think it is also time to restart the debate on how much time
junior spends in the classroom.
We need "more time in seats," demands the governor who wants
lawmakers to tackle this issue after the November election.
Dr. T.C. Wallace, who use to run the Mt. Clemens school system is
also on board. In fact before he took the superintendent's job in the
Capitol City, he administered a 220 day calendar in Macomb County.
"It worked extremely well," he recalls and the "parents loved it."
But it cost more money…a bunch more money about 16% more to tack on
the extra four to six weeks of learning.
The governor did not address that issue when she embraced the
longer school year this week.
As for the opposition to this, besides the students themselves, you
can expect to get an earful from the motel-hotel and recreation bunch.
Remember after years of cajoling, lawmakers finally agreed to keep the
schools closed until after Labor Day so owners could squeeze every last
red cent out of Mom and Dad before the school bells rang.
Imagine what that lobby would say if Johnny and Janey were sitting
in a stuffy classroom in the middle of July. Oh my. Can you say,
"There goes my profit margin?"
Consequently this is by no means a slam dunk.
It might make academic sense to compete with those foreign
countries, but at the end of the debate it could be the dollar bill
that wins out. And if lawmakers get too much grief from the opponents
of the longer school year, you know what that means: China 220.
Michigan 180.

5 Comments:

Blogger marv rein said...

More school time for federal mind control tactics'..most public school teachers should go to jail,for wasting tax money. Public schools are a waste of time,except for baby sitting duties.
I learn to read and write at church,,and to cheat,steal and beat -up people aT public SCHOOLS.
IF the kid wants to learn,they learn,if not just cause problems for the ones who DO.
and male teachers have a Field day with the girls.

September 8, 2010 at 4:13 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can see that Mr. Rein has an excellent grasp of grammar and composition, learned at his church. This dinosaur needs to keep his opinions off public forums, lest he embarrass himself.

September 8, 2010 at 5:58 AM 
Blogger marv rein said...

at least I have a name,and a picture.self-funding,and LOVE to hunt down,,people who live off the tax bucket,,in Band.it said."if you can not play an instrument,,they give two slicks,,and if you really bad,,only one stick "..and PUBLIC school teachers so UNuseful,,they only can talk.and in TROY we have 100's of teachers earning over $100k,,and TROY,the NO PRIDE CITY, cannot raise enough money,and on the way of, LOSING a library.

September 8, 2010 at 6:16 AM 
Blogger Peter J. Spadafore said...

It's worth noting that we don't have a 180 day minimum in Michigan. Until very recently there was only an hour limit. Over the last two years, legislators moved the minimum up to 165 and will escalate to 170. We're a far cry from competing with other nations when it comes to days in the classroom for students.

September 8, 2010 at 11:29 AM 
Blogger marv rein said...

Making the school day shorter to length the school year.typical UNION work..waste-ing money.nO problem.. it's Just tax money,,easy to get easy to spend.
a Robot can teach and build cars.

September 10, 2010 at 11:36 AM 

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