The break isn't for Christmas exactly though. Not now anyway. We can justify the Christmas break from the very fact that there are going to be a number of students and staff that are simply not going to come to school on Christmas. But if you only have one or two students or staff out of a 300 student school not coming in because of some other holiday, then it would be pointless to close school to accommodate such a small percentage of those at the school. It would be a waste of time. It doesn't matter what the religion was the holiday was important to.
If I plan to keep my kids home from school on "Talk Like a Pirate Day", should the school shutdown on that day just because I personally feel that it is important to my religious beliefs? But what if half the school was going to do this and told the school as such beforehand? Then should the school be shutdown? Having a small percentage of students not in class would only mean ensuring those few students are filled in. But having half the class or more absent means that there is a very good chance that the teacher will have to reteach the entire day anyway just to ensure the class doesn't fall behind.
Christmas is a holiday though that is celebrated by so many in the US though that it is only practical to not have school on at least that day. In general though, since Christmas falls at a really good time of other holidays and it seems to be a good time for students to get a break, plenty of religions are covered by the "Christmas" break (which is generally becoming "winter break" in most places). And the practicality of having a school opening with so many people out and the likelihood of a certain portion/percentage of the students/staff/both being out is what should be the most important factor with whether a school is open or not for any religious holidays or other things. I'm pretty sure this is a large part of the reasoning for snow days. You could have students that live so close to the school that they might be playing right there at the school anyway during the snow day, but a good portion of the school and staff might not be able to make it in due to where they live.
Better yet. Have the liberals quit preventing school vouchers. Kid might stand a chance at a decent education and parents could choose what type school to send their kids to.
Yeah, like all pubic school kids are old enough to handle that, and gee parents really need to somehow manage that for their kids. ... NOT happening.Publish a syllabus, announce the schedule for any and all tests, homework assignments, and term papers at the beginning of the academic year, hold students responsible for assimilating content whether they're in school or not, and then you won't need to worry about cancelling classes because of mass absenteeism.
Hard to do for any but the well off. Everyone else is working, maybe more than one job, driving kids to safe exercise whatevers since neighborhoods aren't safe anymore, trying to get dinners, and baths, and homework, and spouses,... yeah, like any but the well off who can offshift a lot of that work to others can manage that.Better yet. Tell parents that their child's success both in school and in life is heavily influenced by parental participation. Kid might stand a chance at a decent education, parents would claim the power to have a greater say in how public schools are run, and they could also reinforce lessons especially important to them without re-appropriating tax dollars. That way everybody wins, not just those who can afford private school educations (with or without the re-appropriation of tax dollars).
Better yet. Tell parents that their child's success both in school and in life is heavily influenced by parental participation. Kid might stand a chance at a decent education, parents would claim the power to have a greater say in how public schools are run, and they could also reinforce lessons especially important to them without re-appropriating tax dollars. That way everybody wins, not just those who can afford private school educations (with or without the re-appropriation of tax dollars).
Yeah, like all pubic school kids are old enough to handle that, and gee parents really need to somehow manage that for their kids. ... NOT happening.
I think once you get past a certain age, kids are pretty good at meeting the expectations adults hold them to. What that certain age is is, I suppose, a whole other discussion.
Hard to do for any but the well off. Everyone else is working, maybe more than one job, driving kids to safe exercise whatevers since neighborhoods aren't safe anymore, trying to get dinners, and baths, and homework, and spouses,... yeah, like any but the well off who can offshift a lot of that work to others can manage that.
I guess if you want to re-instate welfare for mother's in poverty, maybe then.
I'm thinking at least Pre, K, & the first five grades would be beyond a reasonable challenge for all but the most exceptional.
People in poverty, you got to be kidding me. Clearly you have no concept of the working poor. And having a responsibility and being able to guarantee being able to meet it every single day of every single child, anymore, are two entirely different things. Even if they started out fine, all it takes is health issue, a job loss, an accident, a depression/recession in any combination or order, and bingo... now you can't now, you have to get many jobs because you're higher paying job is no longer available.Or you could make a lot of sacrifices. It's what I do, as the father of a single-income household. We have one car, don't go out very much, and keep the ordering out to a minimum. We read to our kids, and our eldest gets his nose lovingly strapped to the grindstone when there's homework to be done.
If you can't figure out how participate in your child's education, you shouldn't have children -- teaching them is parental job #3, with #1 being safety and #2 being sustenance.
People in poverty, you got to be kidding me. Clearly you have no concept of the working poor. And having a responsibility and being able to guarantee being able to meet it, anymore, are two entirely different things.
You're not just asking them to be parents, you asking them to be education managers, that's the school's job. That's why we have schools, if parents, in general, had ever been qualified and shown any type of results when it came to education, we wouldn't have public schools in all developed nations. Please, y'know, deal with reality.I don't care how much money you have or don't have -- if you can't navigate the rock-bottom basic responsibilities, you shouldn't have or be able to keep your kids. Being a parent means doing at least the absolute bare minimum needed to raise your children into people (as a pose to feral humans), and if you can't fulfill that responsibility then you either shouldn't embrace or it should be taken from you.
You're not just asking them to be parents, you asking them to be education managers, that's the school's job. That's why we have schools, if parents, in general, had ever been qualified and shown any type of results when it came to education, we wouldn't have public schools in all developed nations. Please, y'know, deal with reality.
I'm not expecting parents to be professional-grade teachers, that's why we have public schools to begin with rather than forcing everyone to home-school. We live in a specialized society, so I'm not expecting any one person is going to be able to do everything by themselves. Expecting parents to see to it that their kids have a roof over their heads one way or another is different than expecting every parent to be a professional builder of homes.
I do think it's reasonable to expect parents to be aware of how their kids are doing, provide or find help for them as needed, and hold the school board responsible for the school's overall performance.
Then we agree, I thought you were saying that parents should manage the kids under 7th grade who couldn't handle that which you were suggesting about schedules, and such. Being aware and influencing when required is different than managing it from K-7.
Actually I home-schooled grades 5-8. My kids were going nuts waiting for everyone else, so I let them homeschool which also kept them out of school during the early drug introduction stages, that helped one of mine. Otherwise they both graduated high school with honors, my son was cum laude. So though I couldn't do all, I could've done k-9 without issue. After that, it gets more specialized and I probably couldn't be up on all the subjects.Oh, no. No no no. We don't view our participation as a replacement for a professional teacher, but as an essential part of the overall education process. Neither of us are qualified to replace an appropriately accredited educator.
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