Everyone seems to have an opinion on how to improve education. President Obama recently put out an idea to extend the school year. While that sounds really great, I don't think that in itself will improve education...especially since there are several additional factors in quality education.
One of my chief complaints about extending the school year is when can teachers have vacation? Recently I posted this question on Yahoo! and people just went off on me since teachers have 10-12 weeks during the summer and other holidays scattered throughout the school year. While people may have crazy ideas that teachers do nothing when they are not in school, my point is why can everyone else decide when they take a day off. If a teacher gets married, they cannot have a three-day honeymoon unless it is scheduled around their work schedule. Also, people have this crazy idea they can pull their students out of school to go on vacation; but they hold their teacher to a higher standard and even expect the teacher to adequately teach their students while they are absent.
While reading several responses on the Yahoo! thread, I also found out that many people assume that teachers work only between 9 am and 3 pm. I have no idea where they came up with this work schedule; I believe students/teachers are normally in school an hour or two more than the assumed six hours. Also, teachers have several other duties such as grading papers, parent conferences, lesson plans, student club activities, phone calls, normal HR tasks, paperwork, etc. I find this idea that teachers only work while students are in the classroom as ridicules as saying that your local weatherman only works fifteen minutes because that is all you see them on television.
I also find the idea absurd that the teacher's union is the main reason for our education problems. I believe Dave Glover's radio show best described the flaw in this. When a caller mentioned unions, bad teachers, and an under performing school, Dave Glover wondered out loud, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" He clarified by asking what would happen if you took all the teachers from the poor performing school and switched them with teachers from an excellent school system. Would the teachers switch roles and the broken still be broken and the excelling school still excel? I believe so since a highly supported teaching staff will actually improve itself while a broken system needs to fix the problems before just blaming the teachers. Looking at the big picture, a students education is based on more than the teacher in the classroom; people need to look at the administration, government, and the parents.
While I am not a teacher, I also have my input on how to improve education: Let's expect more from the students. We currently don't want anyone to feel bad, so some schools are implementing a policy of the lowest score possible to be a 65%. Some schools have a policy that students that get caught cheating can have an alternative assignment. Some students assume that if they do no do the work, they can't get a zero for the assignment. Some school districts allow students to miss weeks worth of classes and they can make up the work. Some school districts even allow homework to be turned in during the next semester. Some districts blame the teachers for their horrible school policies!
The most you can expect from a student is the least you expect of them.
