Here’s an interesting bit of information I just discovered about public education, at least in the state of Washington where I live. Do you know who/what determines the length of the school year in public schools? Well, I saw that in Washington, the length of the school year (days of instruction) depends on what is in the TEACHERS UNION CONTRACT. No mention of the pupils’ need for any number of instruction days to learn what they need to learn. The school year is supposedly 180 days, but in recent years, that has been eaten into by training days, teacher conference days, snow days etc….
I think we just might have our priorities wrong. No wonder the percentage of students who complete a full 12 years of education has dropped steadily since the late 1960’s. Teachers care more about their own paychecks, pensions, and perks than whether their students learn enough to be informed citizens. What a pity for our country.