School Year Changes

I have been appauled at how the KC School District runs ever since I got to Kansas City. When I was in school in the 90's in New Hampshire, we had a lot of 90 minute delays or half days due to the number of large snow storms. But we didn't get every one of those slippery days off! We trudged through the snow to the bus stop and waited for the bus to come to a skidding stop to get us.

When the weather reached bitter cold and the buses couldn't start, we had a 90 minute delay while they jump started the buses, never did we lose a day because of cold weather.

Today's kids in Kansas City get every wednesday as a half day, so the teachers can collaberate with eachother. After talking to a teacher, she described this as a "joke". Other area schools have 4 - 6 days off a year for parent/teacher conferences and meetings. Then, with all of this time off, they get more days off when the weather is cold or we get a coating of snow.

This, in turn, pushes school to start earlier in the year and end later which is a bad thing. Why is this a bad thing you may ask? It is bad for two reasons: First, a child needs to learn responsibility. They need to learn that when it snows they don't get a free day or that a work week doesn't consist of 4 short days followed by a half day. Secondly, parents rely on school as a form of daycare. When their kids aren't at school they need to find someone to watch them while they are at work. This can be expensive.

So why has all this changed? It's the parents! The parents have too much of a role in their kids education and it is destroying it. It is one thing to be involved and know what you child is doing in school, it is another thing to bitch about everything they are doing so in the end the school spends more time trying to please every parent and it results in worse education, longer school years to make up for everything, more "official" parent/teacher confrences that require whole days off from school and students that think their parents run the show and not the teachers.

It is bull shit. Parents, education is not just about where they go to school, it is about the values they get while they are there and the experience of having to do things themselves. If you take away their responsibilies you take away a solid part of their learning. This may mean that you don't put up a stink when they read a book that you don't agree with (afterall, how will they ever be well rounded if they don't get exposed to all sides of things) and it might mean that you give them an extra layer when it is cold out instead of calling for the school to cancel.