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While the mission of public schools has expandedbeyond education to include
social support andextra-curricular activities. the academic schedule haschanged
little in more than a century.
Reclaiming the school day for academic instructionand escaping the
timebound traditions of education are vital steps in the school-reformprocess,
says a report released today by the National Education Commission on Time
andLeaming.
The commission's report, titled "Prisoners of Time," calls the fixed clock
and calendar inAmerican education a “fundamental design flaw" in desperate need
of change. "Time shouldserve children instead of children serving time." the
report says.
The two-year commission found that holding American students to "worldclass
standards." willrequire more time for classroom instruction. "We have been
asking the impossible of ourstudents-that they leam as muchas their foreign
peers while spending half as much as in coreacademic subjects." it states.
The Commission compared the relationships between time and leaming in
Japan. Germany, andthe United States and found that American students receive
less than half the basic academicinstruction that Japanese andGerman students
are provided. On average. American studentscan earn a high school diploma if
they spend only 41 percent of their school time on academics,says the
report.
American students spend an average of three hours a day on "core" academics
such as Englishmath, science,and history. the commission found. Their report
recommends offering aminimum of 5.5 hours of academics every school day.
The nine-member commission also recommends lengthening the school day
beyond thetraditional six hours.
"If schools want to continue offering important activities outside the
academic core, as well asserving as a hub for family and community services,
they should keep school doors openlonger each day and each year." says John
Hodge Jones, superintendent of schools inMurfreesboro, Tenn., and chairman of
the commission.
The typical school year in American public schools is 180 days. Eleven
states allow school yearsof 175 days or less, and only one state requires more
than 180 day.
"For over a decade. education reform advocates have been working Feverishly
to improve ourschools,” says Milton Goldberg. executive director of the
commission. "But... if reform is totruly take hold, the six-hour, 180-day school
year should be relegated (归属于) to museums-anexhibit from our education
past." |
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发表于 2017-12-16 10:01:57