Education secretary calls for 12-hour school days, longer school year
By Paul Conner - The Daily Caller       | Published: 12:25 AM 07/28/2010       | Updated: 1:37 PM 07/28/2010

If Education Secretary Arne Duncan has his way, kids would be spending a lot more time at school — and a three-month summer would be a thing of the past.

Duncan joked with attendees at a luncheon at the National Press Club Tuesday in Washington that he would like schools to stay open 13 months out of the year. Then he told the audience of over 100 that he seriously supports longer school hours.

“In all seriousness, I think schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year,” Duncan said. “This is not just more of the same. There would be a whole variety of after-school programs. Obviously academics would be at the heart of that. But you top it off with dancing, art, drama, music, yearbook, robotics, activities for older siblings and parents, ESL classes.”

He continued by explaining that the American school calendar is antiquated and must be modified so that American students can compete at the highest levels internationally.

“Most people realize that our current day is based on the agrarian economy, and we don’t have too many kids working out in the fields nowadays,” Duncan said. “Schools in countries that are beating us are going to school 25-30 days more than us. If you practice basketball five times a week, you’re gonna be better than the people who practice three times a week.”

Duncan, former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, also announced that 19 states are finalists for an estimated $3.4 billion of federal funding through President Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative.

“As you guys know, our world has changed, our economy has changed,” said Duncan. “The days of telling kids to go home at 2:30 and having mom there with a peanut butter sandwich, those days are gone. Whether it’s a single parent working one, two, three jobs or two parents working, the hours from 3 o’clock to 7 o’clock are a huge anxiety, and that’s why we have to keep our schools open longer.”

How stupid it that?  Twelve hours a day???  Are you kiddin' me?  Twelve months a year???  Wouldn't that be child abuse?  What happened to getting out of school in MAY and not going back until after LABOR DAY.  That's the way it was in my day - and also my children's day.  

The excuse I've heard about going back so soon is because they forget what they learned during the summer that they were taught in the fall, winter, and spring.  What a crock!!!  I didn't forget what I learned and neither did my children.

These people are crazy!!!

A couple of my best friends are math teachers, and believe me, they are not political at all. Two huge issues that will keep this from ever happening.

1- In the critical needs areas like Math and Science, the summers off are one of the only real perks of the job. Just controlling the classroom is a nightmare now a days.

2- The towns and cities will never pay the kind of money it would take to keep math and science teachers in the classroom for that many hours. You tell a math teacher he is going to work all year round, 10-12 hours a day, and start out at 30K a year, and you will have no qualified people in the classroom in these areas.

How stupid it that?  Twelve hours a day???  Are you kiddin' me?  Twelve months a year???  Wouldn't that be child abuse?  What happened to getting out of school in MAY and not going back until after LABOR DAY.  That's the way it was in my day - and also my children's day.  

The excuse I've heard about going back so soon is because they forget what they learned during the summer that they were taught in the fall, winter, and spring.  What a crock!!!  I didn't forget what I learned and neither did my children.

These people are crazy!!!  I guess it's so they can pump 'em full of commie propaganda all day long.

I'd tell 'em there's no way my child is going to school 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long - not until hell freezes, that is.