Will Kids Spend More Time in the Classroom?

I would like to comment on Nate Peele's comments. I current live and teach in South Korea and being close to the system, I can say that I have no desire to replicate it in the United States. First, education is stuffed down the throats of children from an early age. Instead of playing sports after school, students often attend as much as six extra hours of classes in a day. School is also compulsory on many Saturdays. I understand that in order to get ahead you have to study smarter (not harder) than the other person. In Korea, however, many of these hagwons offer low quality education. They are businesses that hire untrained teachers who will work for the smallest salary offered. In English hagwons, language is usually learned through memorization and repetition. Many students have a large vocabulary but have trouble constructing a sentence.

Also, there is a limit to how much school a child can handle. After awhile, any one of us would shut down.

Furthermore, student behavior is not any better in Korea than in the states and is sometimes worse. Hitting a student 200 times does not instill a love of learning or a healthy respect for the school. If anything, it causes behind the back rebellions and inspires acts of revenge.

Basically, South Korea has an enormous quantity of education, but little quality. Multiple choice tests are the norm, but get a Korean student away from a standardized test and they often have a tough time. I understand that U.S. schools have gotten lax in their education and their standards, but I do not endorse a broad acceptance of the South Korean education system.

Nathan Price 7:50AM April 09, 2009

During a speech last week, Barrack Obama reminded us that South Korean students go to school a month longer than our students do. After looking up the statistics, I learned that they are also scoring better on standardized tests than our students even though we have a higher percentage of students scoring in the highest category. I decided that we need to look at what it will take to replicate the South Korean educational miracle.

First, we need the kind of quality teachers that they have in South Korea. First, all teachers in this country should get a 75% raise so that they are equal to South Korean teachers in salary as a percentage of GDP. I’m not thrilled about this aspect of things either because a teacher who is currently overpaid at $40,000 a year would now make $70,000. Wow! OK, let’s just skip this step.

One thing that South Korea has that we need is hagwons. Hagwons are private tutoring schools that students go to after their regular school day is completed. South Korean families spend 7 percent of their income on their children’s education and that’s for students in public school. Student days in South Korea are much longer with both school and hagwon taking up time. It isn’t unusual for students to catch up on their shut eye in class. The saying in Korea is, “Sleep 5 hours and fail. Sleep 4 hours and pass.” Especially in high school, students routinely begin school at 6 a.m. and spend the day in classes until midnight. This schedule lasts 7 days a week.

Students in South Korea know that they have a lot pressure to succeed and unfortunately, there is an abnormally high suicide rate among teens and children in South Korea. However, the schools know that if they need to instill discipline they still can. 80% of schools in South Korean still employ corporal punishment. There was one famous story in 2006 when a teacher hit a student 200 times for being 5 minutes late for class. You can be sure that student was on time the next day. This iron willed discipline allows Korean teachers to use a curriculum that features far more rote memorization than are children can handle.

Some may argue, that this kind of approach is too costly or that it saps children of their childhoods. However, what is the effect of a childhood on a country’s economy? We need to start working to get our students capable of competing with the hard working automotons of South Korea.

http://thatsrightnate.com/2009/03/15/recreating-the-south-korean-educational-miracle-in-the-united-states/

Nate Peele of IL 9:09AM March 24, 2009

For example in Chicago, we have only 900 hours of instruction per academic year. That is the lowest of all large urban school districts. Most large school districts have at least 1000 hours of instruction. That is a crime. We have a large English Language population that could benefit from more quality time. We have to change with the needs of the new students.

I do not know what studies the author quotes but education week came out with an article that shows consensus that more quality time is necessary, not less.

English Language Learners can really benefit from a longer instructional day. In addition a longer day with additional teachers would enable school staff to meet regularly to plan and evaluate classroom and school wide practices. This is an area that no talks about, how to get a whole school staff in sync and developing professional teacher leadership capacity. It makes sense to build within the day and week real time to follow a process of school reform.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/24/05narmain_ep.h28.html&destination=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/24/05narmain_ep.h28.html&levelId=2100

Vinicius of IL 12:47PM March 21, 2009

The problem with education has little to do with the amount of time spent in school or in the classroom. The real problem is poor classroom management and the loss of focus on mastering the state standards. More time at school will only increase spending on energy, which we should be saving. I liked the idea from NJGUARDIAN about distance learning. There are some distance learning models proven to be highly effective, and it cuts down on several costs. I can see a balance between doing this and social time. For instance, if you spend 3 days at home doing distance learning though cable television or the internet, the other two days can be used for physical education, direct writing instruction, and other subject areas requiring more facilitation by a certified teacher.

So many parents are opting for homeschooling because no one can agree where the money should be spent. President Obama advocates for additional school time, but what use is this when many teachers do not know how to manage a classroom effectively. When a teacher is instructing, there must be complete silence and attentiveness of every student or else no real learning will take place. There must be group interactions between students in class, and students must learn to teach one another. It is a proven fact that we do not really learn a subject unless we can teach it to another person.

There are also too many schools teaching to the test. There should be a system set up in every school district that teaches to mastery of state standards. What is the use of having state standards in a subject, when hardly any teachers are teaching these standards to mastery. Also, a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching does not work. Each individual must be held accountable for their own learning and progress, and must fully comprehend what standards are being taught and why. When students understand the standards they must work towards mastery, and the ones they have already mastered, then student achievement will increase tenfold.

We have all lost focus here. A longer school day does not guarantee higher achievement. It only leads to more frustration. More teachers who would rather be at home with their families are forced to stay with students they many not feel like tolerating. When the classroom culture is disruptive, then there will never be any real learning going on. There will be additional hours of madness going on inside of the classrooms. Unless the heart of the problem is cured, then there will be no solution that will fix the larger problem with nationwide low academic achievement.

Sure, China and India have longer school days. They also come from a culture which values achievement. Parents are more devoted to their children's success and businesses are investing money for future employees. Americans like to point the finger at each other, but every person in American is responsible. When was the last time you volunteered 5 or more hours a week helping a child learn to read?

Mrs. Facilitate-- http://facilitatedontdictate.blogspot.com 11:01AM March 20, 2009