Teaching is turning into glorified babysitting

Increase the school day by THREE hours from 7:30 to 5:00 at night? Sure. Why not. Be sure to read the last paragraph to discern the real motive behind this agenda. It's "social justice," not education, we are talking about here. The other issue that is NOT mentioned in this article is the number of kids who do not have fathers in the home. Could this be glorified babysitting, paying professional teachers loads of money to "watch" kids whose parents aren't willing to take on the tough work of doing it themselves? Just askin'.

Disadvantaged kids, on the whole, make no progress in the summer, Alexander said. Some studies suggest they actually fall back. Wealthier kids have parents who read to them, have strong language skills and go to great lengths to give them learning opportunities such as computers, summer camp, vacations, music lessons, or playing on sports teams.

"If your parents are high school dropouts with low literacy levels and reading for pleasure is not hard-wired, it's hard to be a good role model for your children, even if you really want to be," Alexander said.

Extra time is not cheap. The Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15 percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature last year.