Obama thinks American children don't spend enough time in schoolhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33044676/ns/us_news-education/#storyContinued

• Most american schools have a fairly flexable amount of hours thats children are required to spend each day in school.There is also a fair amount of vacation time during which students can relax and do recreational things, or partake in extra studies of their choosing.basically a break from whatever they have to do during the school year.This has seemed to be working so far and seems to be a reasonable balance between leisure and educucation for most american children.

• Obama thinks american children don't spend enough time in school. This realization is based on the fact that children in other countries have more school days and less vacation time. He wants to increase school days and decrease vacation time. While children in other countries have less school hours, they have more school days than american children.an advantage is higher test scores and grade improvements.

• While I think it would be beneficial to have higher test scores and grade improvements, I think this idea is very il conceived. One point is that summer vacation gives children time to take a break from their hectic school schedule and relax and do more things they enjoy that they normally don't have time to do during the school year. while we have weekends and the occasional teacher work days and thanksgiving,easter, and winter breaks, those small breaks are also frequently used to do homework,catch up on work, and to do extra studying. Teachers more frequently then not, give students assignments to do over these breaks as well. another point is that making school days longer will give students less time to do homework, chores, family responsibilities, internships, sports activities,leisure activities, and paying jobs which many american teenagers depend on for their own source of income. a third point is the amount it would cost to have longer school days. As the nation is just starting to come out of economic turmoil, public school county's are still going through budget problems and are being forced to cut back on certain costs. An example of this is the fact that our principle is not letting any student at herndon highschool switch out of any class as they have been able to in previous years during the first quarter because of the amount of students in our school, not having enough room if there become a greater increase of students in certain classes and a decrease of students in other classes, and not being able to afford more teachers or more space for this to happen. county's are already having enough trouble as it is being able to keep sports funded and providing teachers with the neccesary supplies that they need for classes. Though the economy is starting to return to normal, it is still not a good idea for now because it is too soon to start being optimistic. Our nation could go right back to where it started.

• There are too many controversaries that would have to be dealt with for this idea to even be considered a possible option. As we have clearly just experienced economic problems, it is not a good idea to start taking advantage of this economic improvement.If the government learns to use it's money more wisely,then maybe we'll have more money for educational purposes in the future, but right now that seems unlikely. After all, history does tend to repeat itself.