by Kristina Nelson

Created on: February 03, 2009

The problem with the state governors, and government officials wanting to lengthen the school year, is that they do not see what is really going on within the school year itself. Teachers, students, and tourism are all factors in considering this issue. However, as a parent with six children in public school, I believe there is more to understand, that many people who do not have children in school, are not even aware of.

Old elementary schools are continuously being torn down and new, mega combined schools are being built. New, upgraded technology is being added, and in some cases, money wasted on unneeded, very expensive landscaping and other unnecessary items. Meanwhile, the money that should be put towards teacher's needs, students needs, and assisted learning programs, are spent on installing televisions in classrooms. Do the classrooms really need this? Teachers and students would learn more within the school year, if they had the right tools supplied, and used the hours spent in school more wisely.

Televisions in every classroom, and including the lunch rooms, are a complete waste of school money. They not only waste money, but waste time - time meant to be spent teaching our children. I have had my children come home so many times telling me they watched a 1 1/2 hour movie that had nothing to do with school. Televisions are giving schools the idea that movies should be student incentives, and if you count those days wasted away, you probably count the days that the government wants to add to the school year. Students are not getting the full benefit of the time they already have in the current school year.

When holidays arrive, end of semesters, and espeically the end of the year, teachers bring the movies in and the students sit and watch them. The current school year hours are not used wisely, and consistently with teaching and only teaching. There are numerous ways to make education fun and exciting, but watching movies as entertainment incentives is not the way to do it.

In our case, our 9 year old daughter cannot even spell. After contacting the school, I was told that spelling lists and tests did not exist in her curriculum. I was told that students can use a dictionary when needed. While she gets left behind, even though there are several opportunities to help her, time is continuously wasted away on recently released movies. Parents are not even aware of this until their child tells them, as with our case. It's not just elementary grades either. This is a problem up through the high school grades also.

Tourism will suffer if the school year is lengthened. Vacations will be shortened, less money will be spent, and the economy will suffer. But, the government and the state governors need to put restrictions on how school days are spent teaching students. Educational field trips are a wonderful way to extend learning in a particular subject, but wasting away precious learning time watching movies such as "Shrek" and "Ice Age" is getting out of control, and preventing students from learning anything.

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