Kamala Harris Proposes 10-Hour School Day

 

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is introducing a Senate bill to keep kids in school from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The proposed goal is to align schedules between the average school day and workday. While this might be convenient for working parents, it would trap students in classrooms for 10 hours, five days a week.

The actual goal is something different: strengthening teachers’ unions, federalizing local schools, and further replacing the family with the state.

In a glowing profile, Mother Jones attempts to sell Harris’s plan:

The majority of schools days end around 3 p.m., two hours before the end of 70 percent of parents’ workdays. And most schools don’t have a way to make up the difference. Fewer than half of all elementary schools—and fewer than a third of low-income schools—offer after-school care. Beyond that misalignment, schools shut down, on average, for 29 days during the school year, the majority of which are reserved for professional development, parent-teacher conferences, and myriad vacations and minor holidays the federal government doesn’t recognize. That’s a full two weeks’ worth of days more than what the average American has in holidays, vacation, and paid leave combined. And then, of course, there’s summer vacation, a two- to three-month break that leaves working parents scrambling for day-long care.

The school day and calendar is a bad deal for children: In the absence of a better alternative, 3 percent of elementary-school students and 19 percent of middle-school students look after themselves from 3 to 6 p.m. on school nights. But it’s an equally bad deal for working parents—and the economy as a whole. A family paying out of pocket to cover child care for those two hours between the end of the school and workday costs an average of $6,600 dollars per year, or nearly 10 percent of an average family’s income. Almost 40 percent of all workers lack access to any paid vacation time, which means parents will often have to scale back their workday to accommodate child care duties.

In that case, why not eliminate half the holidays and cut summer vacation to a week? That way, unmotivated parents could be even less involved with their kids and focus on what’s really important: sending more tax dollars to Washington.

Published in Education, Elections
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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Misthiocracy grudgingly (View Comment):

    It’s been tried. The results were … uneven.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system

    Also tried in the US, Australia, and other places.

    • #61
  2. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Manny (View Comment):

    Wouldn’t this get her in hot water with the teacher’s unions? Are teacher’s supposed to work 60 hour weeks now?

    Any way you look at it, it’s dumb.

    Our school district administrators proposed a four-day school week this year, which was rejected by the board, based on the reality that while teachers would love to have Fridays off, other people with kids in the private and public sectors who work five days a week would then have to figure out what to do with their school age kids on Friday.

    I’d assume that if Harris is proposing those type of long daily school hours, tucked in their somewhere would be the same four days per week of classes (unless the goal is to just split the day between multiple teachers five days a week so the districts can hire more of them and union can get more members. Be hell on local taxpayers though, and even voters in California might get up in arms over that one).

    • #62
  3. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    TBA (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Valiuth (View Comment):
    I mean England’s royals and government have been illegitimate since Henry VIII became a heretic VII stole the throne from the legitimate line.

    FTFY.

    Man, conservatives know how to hold a grudge.

    I will not forget this…

    • #63
  4. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Misthiocracy grudgingly (View Comment):

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    I think the word you are actually looking for is Boarding School for all. And honestly isn’t that actually a good solution of these benighted underachieving school districts either in rural areas or inner cities? One system chronically underfunded and under populated the other over funded and over populated. You take kids from different parts of America send them off to live with each other in a 24/7 supervised environment. They get their three meals (no under fed students) they get diversity (if you care about that), they get away from their distracting and problematic home lives, they can focus on academic achievement, and you can probably identify and assist those students with learning deficiencies better.

    The main purpose of schools is to keep kids off the street right? Also to train people to sit still and shut up for at least 8 hours a day while following instructions. All that can be better done in a controlled environment? Plus isn’t sending your kids to boarding school a thing rich people do?

    It’s been tried. The results were … uneven.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system

    Yah, but that sounds like the goal was more ethnic cleansing than education… I bet they would have been more careful and thoughtful about it with white children. 

    On a serious note though, if you think a bad home life is a major obstacle to good education having a boarding school option is not a crazy idea. It certainly is a more realistic solution than somehow making the home life better or more stable. At least from the schools perspective. You can’t send parents to detention for being irresponsible. 

    Also again being serious, the issue of parents having to do too much work would seem from a progressive perspective to be a better arguments of Elizabeth Warren and her arguments about the two income trap. In the past when you had more stay at home moms you didn’t have this “who will watch the kids issue”. Though I have to say, I grew up coming home to a house without my parents my older brother was there, but when he got to high school he started doing after school stuff I was on my own until like 6PM when the folks got back. You just turn on the TV watch afternoon cartoons, and make a sandwich. It’s not rocket science. 

    Though I think the real answer for modern society isn’t to actually have people work less. I think the solution is to make retirees play babysitters, by making it less viable for old people to be independent and live far away from their children. So the real answer is to cut social security benefits and strip people of retirement savings. Old people need to start earning their keep again. 

    • #64
  5. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Misthiocracy grudgingly (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):
    Wouldn’t this get her in hot water with the teacher’s unions? Are teacher’s supposed to work 60 hour weeks now?

    Presumably she expects them to hire more teachers and/or teaching assistants rather than expecting teachers to work longer hours, and the teachers’ unions would love this since union dues are a fixed annual fee rather than a percentage of members’ income. If dues were a percentage then unions would have an incentive to get members to work longer hours (thereby earning more income), but since dues are a fixed fee the unions have an incentive to increase the number of members instead.

    Good point.

    • #65
  6. J Ro Member
    J Ro
    @JRo

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):

    J Ro (View Comment):

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):

    colleenb (View Comment):

    One sort of doubts that anyone at Mother Jones either has kids or thinks they’re a good idea. Personally I don’t think Kamala Harris goes far enough. All children of all ages should be in a government facility from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Also, when did 3 to 6 p.m. become part of school nights?

    I’m pretty sure Kamala Harris does not have children. In my humble opinion, that should disqualify her from making public education policy and running for most offices in general.

    You need to have some stakes in the game. If you don’t have kids, why would you care about the future?

    As long as my taxes are being confiscated and spent to educate/indoctrinate children, I reserve the right to voice opinions about how they are spent.

    In fact, since people with children are rewarded for it with tax breaks, people without children, or people who have children who have finished school and are no longer part of the household, are likely to be paying more than their fair share of the local education budget.

    As for childless citizens not caring about the future, please make an effort to meet some bachelors or childless couples and ask them why they keep striving to live and to make the world better for other people’s offspring. You obviously have a lot to learn about human nature.

    Hey now, I’m a bachelor! And I wouldn’t take issue with someone not voting for me for that reason if I ever ran for office. Stakes. Collateral. There can be exceptions but that’s my general rule. It’s the same reason I won’t vote for someone who is gay (generally) or someone who is pushing 80 (because they probably won’t live to see the consequences of their actions).

    People generally make better decisions when they have something to lose. Stakes in the game. Harris’ proposals here are insane and would not come from someone who has children. Young boys have enough problems paying attention in a six hour school day. Boys on average have more energy than girls and public schools are often completely incapable of accommodating this. As a result of this, bureaucrats and agents of the state diagnose “disorders” and over-medicate boys for being boys. How on Earth would a ten hour school day affect what is already an enormous problem? We would be living in a Pink Floyd music video. A mother of boys, regardless of political affiliation, would hopefully see some serious problems with proposals like this.

    I’ll take your advice though and work on being a better person.

    I see! So, even bachelors like you care about the future simply because you will have to live in it. 

    • #66
  7. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    I don’t like her most of all.

    • #67
  8. Ralphie Inactive
    Ralphie
    @Ralphie

    Juliana (View Comment):

    In our district there is school-age care, before and after school, from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm. We already have some children in the buildings for 12 hours a day, five days a week, breakfast, lunch and snacks provided. Often, when there are scheduled days off, be they holidays or professional development days, the school-age care runs all day. It is not cheap, and parents who cannot afford daily care will just drop off their kids on their way to work – sometimes 30 to 45 minutes early because they know there is someone in the building. Teachers do not work as school age care employees, but many of the caregivers are already employed by the district as paraprofessionals (their union is the SEIU).

    I’ve always been an advocate for year round school – but the models I’ve seen would not actually increase the number of school days. It’s generally six weeks on, two weeks off, and no school in July. It’s the teachers who usually put up the barriers for that type of model – they like their summers off.

    Overall, this is a local decision. That’s why there are elected school boards. The feds and state do not need to get involved.

    I worked a year in a public school system with latch key/daycare after staying home at raising my own children for 10 years, and decided it was a poor system. In my experience, it was stressful for myself and the children. We were maxed out children to adult, and some of the children had behavior problems. I don’t think I read a whole story to a child in one sitting, because I kept having to get up and take care of a problem. If that is all you know, perhaps you don’t think it is so bad, and I only had my own time with my children to compare it to, but have absolutely no regrets about my children’s childhood. And we lived paycheck to paycheck most of the time.

    I don’t advocate for full time school, I think some children need less as it is. As Charles Murray said, 1/2 the kids are below average, and they need to be seen as they are, not for what we imagine they can be. Edward Banfield also advocated reducing the time spent (years) as a way of addressing those who need more immediate rewards than prolonged education offers. Our kids spend more time in education systems than previous generations did, and we seem frustrated, and demand even more, and I wonder if that is the problem. It seems weird, but if your dog drinks anti freeze, an antidote is alcohol.

    • #68
  9. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    If we’re going to go full socialist, can’t we at least reduce working hours to match school hours rather than the other way ‘round?  Even Kamala’s utopian dreams are dreary.

    • #69
  10. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    1919: “Your kids have to go to school.” 

    “But we need them to work in the fields!” 

    “This’ll make them smarter can make enough money to support a family.” 

    2019: “Your kids have to go to school for ten hours a day.” 

    “But we’ll never see them!” 

    “This is so your wife can also have a full-time job so you can make enough money to support a family.” 

    • #70
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