Obama's take on American Education

Synopsis: The news article is about the presidents take on education. He opined that school year should be longer and under performing educators should not be left to teach.
The president made comparisons to the way education and educators are regarded in other countries. The article states:

“U.S. schools through high school offer an average of 180 instruction days per year, according to the Education Commission of the States, compared to an average of 197 days for lower grades and 196 days for upper grades in countries with the best student achievement levels, including Japan, South Korea, Germany and New Zealand.”

You can read the entire article HERE.


Uneducated Comments and Anti-Obama Flames

gork
you seen our marines?you telling me our kids arnt bright and smart?we are the freaking kings of this screwed up planetwe are top of the food chainwe literaly control the fates of every man woman child and beat upon this planet right this very moment.we have chuck norris.our only liability is OBAMAwe are proud to be americans and we are proud to kick you out of our wonderfull goverment.

philip
I'm gonna say a few things, we need to overthrow this dirty socialistic S.O.B. or else we're gonna have serious trouble. This isn't communist Russia THIS IS AMERICA!!!!! We should be free to make our own decisions but people like him want to take it all away. All these @#$% liberals and "probama" people run around like he's some sort of messiah but last time I checked Jesus was the Messiah. Obama is nothing more than a puppet for the secret combinations everyone overlooks.Just you watch people will wake up but one thing we need to remember is than the night is darkest before the Dawn

garry
MY GOD AMERICA WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!! This Communist Bastard is DESTROYING "OUR" country!!!! When are you going to realize he is attempting to change "OUR" country into Islamic style of destruction!!!!! If "WE" dont get this bastard along with 250 DUMOCRAPS in Washington out of office, "OUR" country will collapse before 2020!!!!! If "OUR" Fore Fathers were alive today they would be telling us to start a second revolution against these theiving and lying bastards!!!! America only "WE" can save "OUR" country, because the Morons in Washington care only about two things!!! Their ass and the whats left of the once almighty dollar. Remember GREED and CORRUPTION is what destroyed the Roman Empire.


Educated Comments:

Ashley
I love how uneducated people are always the first to have such a strong stance on education even thought they have never spent a day in a teacher's shoes. A successful teacher knows, you don't try to reinvent the wheel... you take advice from other teachers, improve and tweak what they do, and apply that to your own classroom. Obama is looking at other education systems and trying to implement positive characteristics of other countries education systems into our own education system i.e. he's not trying to reinvent the wheel he's taking what works in other systems and improving on it for our country. I'm happy to see someone in power actually cares. To bad he doesn't get the support from the rednecks whose children would actually benefit from his ideas.

apple
My kids are straight A's but are way behind kids their age academically in other nations . Although I don't agree with Obama in most instances. I agree with him on this one. More time in school and more education means smarter kids.


Comments that makes a lot of Sense:

I am an American
Stop blaming the teachers and start blaming the parents. Crush the teachers unions because they are allowing poor teachers to remain. Stop putting a price on each child's head, it turns things into a money war for the politicians running the school system. Fund good schools, attach welfare payments to welfare recipients' children's attendance and grades. If a welfare kid doesn't go to school or gets lousy grades or disrupts things, then the baby's momma or dada loses their welfare payments for that child. Let them cry "victim" for a bit, and they'll straighten up once they realize the "victim" or race card won't work anymore.

Richard
I rarely agree with Obama's ideas, but I do concur with his view we need to extend our school years to be competitive in the world. I also think we need to increase the focus on mathematics and science throughout grammar and high school; and real sciences, not the pseudo sciences like sociology. Finally, we need to instill much more discipline in our schools so that teachers are able to regain control of the classrooms instead of having to deal with disruptive students at the expense of the vast majority of students.

70sGirl
Our problem is more or less a breakdown of society, the decline of moral values specifically. Discipline needs to start early on in life, with teaching respect for elders and figures of authority (teachers, police officers etc.). But too many of our children grow up without proper respect these days, resulting in disruptiveness in school, not paying attention and no fear of consequences for their actions. Teachers are not allowed to properly discipline disruptive students, which affects the entire class they have to teach under those conditions. Teachers are also increasingly facing other issues, such as students who speak English as a second language or don't speak enough English to understand what is being asked of them. Teachers also have to deal with students who are living in an un-nurturing environment at home, with parents who are alcoholics or drug users, who are abusive or neglect them. More and more kids are being raised by single parents who just don't have time for them because they work. They come home too exhausted to help their kids with homework and are glad if the kids leave them alone. Unless we can change society as a whole, I don't believe there is any way to improve education for our kids, certainly not by extending the school year. It would be like putting a band-aid on an amputated limb. We need to get back to moral values and instill into our kids that there are consequences to every thing they do. Reward good behavior and good grades and punish unacceptable behavior and bad grades. Teach them to respect their elders and listen to their teachers or face the music. It may be old-fashioned but it worked back then, our kids did much better in school in the 50s and 60s.