President Barack Obama is very popular with the students of Springbrook, but he may lose their favor when they find out that he has proposed to prolong the school day and the school year.

 

In a speech made to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on education reform, he points out five major things that he would like to improve with respect to education. They include early learning programs, better standards and assessments, recruiting, preparing and rewarding teachers, creating innovative schools and higher quality education.

 

Creating innovative schools is what will cause agony for some students, because Obama wants to achieve this by shortening summer vacation. He says that “We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed for when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day.” He argues that that calendar puts American students at a disadvantage. He says that, “Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea.” He reasons that spending more time in school will better prepare students for a twenty-first century

 

Obama designed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help achieve his goals for education reform. This act will give money to early learning programs, programs for children with special needs and reforms to strengthen elementary and secondary education, as well as close the achievement gap and make college and higher education more affordable. The act will also stabilize state education budgets and encourage them to improve teacher effectiveness, have more rigorous assignments that improve teaching and learning and prepare students for college and careers, improve achievement in low-performing schools and gather information to improve student learning, teacher performance and readiness for college and careers. If this act passes in congress, students across the nation may have to plan for a shorter summer vacation.

 

Although Obama feels that this will help students prepare for the future, many only think about the lost free time.

 

“It’ll be cool to have short breaks throughout the year, but I would miss the long summer vacation,” junior Sophie Oppido said.