Year-Round Classes?!

[texasstooge]

The debate for year-round classes arises once again at Dallas Independent School District.

DISD considers year-round classes

DALLAS (WFAA-TV) - One phrase could trigger fear and anxiety for kids everywhere, year-round school.

While it might be a student's summer nightmare, it could soon become reality for those in the Dallas Independent School District.

What are your thoughts on this? Good idea or bad idea?

[twcclassics]

Bad idea. Usually, the reason behind such a thing is because students are falling behind or whatever. I highly doubt forcing them to be in school more is going to change anything.

[TampaMillTWC88]

Terrible idea! 

[WeatherWitness]

Wasn't Obama thinking about passing a law to make schools (K - 12) year-round, a couple of years ago?   I could make the general argument that attending school year-round can put us up to the same level as other countries who will or already are surpassing us in the field of education, but really don't have much to back it up with.

Let's just say that DISD (Dallas Independent School District) is one of the worst in the metro area.

[Zach]

Year-round schooling is horrible. I'm sure even those students who love being acedemic will hate that idea!

[phw115wvwx]

Although other countries have more school days per year on average than our country, most of them don't have year-round classes but still have students performing way better than us in reading, math, and science.  How are they able to do it?  Their high schools are way more rigorous than ours, and their countries care about education.  I've even heard a professor say high school for other countries is like our undergraduate years in college.  We need to work on quality of education.

[Mike M]

Year-round classes isn't that bad, but where will they find the money for it? That's right, we have none!  I think we need to focus on getting the economy back on track first before we even think about making changes to education.

[TWCCraig]

I agree. The government is already over spending on many things as it is. Plus adding more days to the school year probably won't help as for there wouldn't be more curriculum left to teach by the end of the school year. If anything, it should be the quality of the education that matters. Quality over Quantity.

[Donovan]

I'd actually like having year round classes. That space of time during summer so much material is forgotten that you need for the next year that its ridiculous, not to mention the hassles of starting new classes and a new year when you can essentially just continue the last. Having the same amount of break time spaced throughout the year would do better in my mind.

[Mr. Rainman]

If we can afford, I am 100% for it. The education system of this entire country has gone downhill over the last several decades. Last I checked, our education system was ranked #17 compared to the rest of the world, when we were #1 back in the 1950s and 1960s.

And why just limit it to Texas? Try it out on states with some of the worst education systems in the country. I'd love to see it implimented in states like South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Try it for a few years, and see what happens.

Ugh. There are so many problems with the education system in this country, but I'm not gonna rant about all of them.

[Austin M.]

If we can afford, I am 100% for it. The education system of this entire country has gone downhill over the last several decades. Last I checked, our education system was ranked #17 compared to the rest of the world, when we were #1 back in the 1950s and 1960s.

And why just limit it to Texas? Try it out on states with some of the worst education systems in the country. I'd love to see it implimented in states like South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Try it for a few years, and see what happens.

Ugh. There are so many problems with the education system in this country, but I'm not gonna rant about all of them.

I'm thankful that I am in a private school. If we had year-round schooling, it would be literal Hell on earth. I have to agree that Alabama has one of the crappiest education system.


If you want to know what is screwing up our education system and has been since the 50s? Look up "Hovind Debate" on Youtube.

[Trevor]

Along with Austin, I attend a private school. I think that if public schools made the decision to go year-round, it would make the students more tired of school, and thus, not want to work as hard. I have heard that if schools do this, they would go for 3 weeks and then be off for 2 weeks. This wouldn't give families as much of an opportunity to visit family or go on vacation.

[TWCToday]

Well this sounds worse than it really is. The article says they want to extend the school year by 20 days. Plus this school district according to their calendar gives students a full two weeks for Christmas break. Most of the proposals I have seen for a full all year school seems pretty decent to me. Usually there are 2-3 weeks or more for summer, winter and spring breaks. It's not the most ridiculous idea I have heard but I think its impractical with the current economic situations most school systems are in.

Virginia is just starting to look into lifting a state law that prohibits public schools from starting before labor day. It opens up the opportunity for longer school years and give the school systems more flexibility over their schedule. Could be a step towards this?

One of the better ideas I've heard is to have 4 day school weeks with longer school days. Ends up saving a lot in fuel costs that can be better spent elsewhere.