Posted on 09/27/2010 10:48:54 AM PDT by mlizzy
Sorry kids, President Obama wants to extend the school year by a month.
"That month makes a difference," the President said Monday in an appearance on the "Today" show.
And while "that's going to cost some money," he said, "that would be money well spent."
Obama's interview kicked off a special NBC News series on education.
"There's nothing more important than the issue we're talking about today," he said.
Students in China, India and other fast-growing countries are already leaving U.S. students in the dust, he said.
"They have caught up and now in some cases have surpassed us," he said.
But simply throwing money at schools won't fix them.
"Money without reform will not fix the problems," he said.
Obama said his administration's "Race to the Top" program is forcing states and school districts to improve, but he said parents need to get more involved in their kids' education.
Special emphasis, Obama said, should be on beefing up math and science programs.
Getting personal, Obama said his daughters couldn't get the same quality education at a Washington, D.C., public school than they get at their private school
"I'll be blunt with you: The answer is no right now," Obama said when asked whether daughters Malia and Sasha could receive as good an education as they do now at the Sidwell Friends School in affluent northwest Washington.
Tuition at the elite school costs $32,000 for Malia, 12, and $31,000 for Sasha, 9.
The D.C. public schools are "struggling," Obama said.
Asked about incompetent teachers, Obama agreed there were some bad apples in the classrooms and that they need to be removed.
"Sort of like politicians and journalists," the President joked.
lol, especially with the teacher unions
None of the idiots ideas have yet to do so.
They could extend the school year for 12 months and it would’t make a bit of difference. You can’t fire bad teachers! Unions won’t permit it.
What an idiot! 0bama is the bad apple with worms!
There go the teachers’ and the youth votes.
The Unions will love it - another month of dues coming into the coffers. That's why Obama is pushing it.
In the USA, bad teachers are unfirable and set for life.
Another 18 or 19 school days doesn't change that cold fact.
Yeah Kenyan, this will help you get popular with the young voters.
CNN/USA Today Poll finds grade-schoolers support for the president falling below 45% for the 1st time.
The teacher unions will love it.
They will, at a minimum, demand proportionately higher pay for the longer year.
Or, possibly, since this shortens summer-vacation by a month, they will claim that they can no longer get summer jobs and thus need to be compensated for that as well.
I know! Let’s throw “Tolerance and Understanding”, “GLSEN”, “Recycling”, and “Catastrophic Climate Change and You” out of the curricula and put back in gym, math, and science!
I thought we already had year-round schools.
No thanks. Summer is short enough as it is, and I like for my kids to have a break to play with their friends, go to camp, relax, go on vacation with the family.
I think we will see some pols removed soon but somehow I doubt he will laughing much.
According to Ohio Governor Strickland, Ohio school systems don’t have to pay teachers for the forty additional days he’s requiring us to teach. I love talking about this in our teechurz lawnj. Those idiots at the OEA want us to vote for this guy again!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but when we were ranked #1 in education, we had fewer or same school days. Sounds like another union pay off.
He’s grasping at straws now.
Has anything been "money well spent" since Obama took office??
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