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School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

nytimes.com

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Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#61

Post by kwhitefoot »

grugagag wrote: post #20
iammjm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember getting to school for the 7:45 AM class as some of the worst times of my childhood. Imagine a deep Polish winter, it’s -15 Celsius, you get up at 6:30 in complete darkness, you walk to a bus station to get on an overcrowded bus where you can barely even stand as all the other kids are going too. then starting the day with an hour of math with a sociopathic, incompetent teacher… it took me years to apprecia…

I have some similar horrible experiences with school but hey, isn’t it like an authentic prep for the real world?

> isn’t it like an authentic prep for the real world?

No. And if it were don't you think it would be better to teach the children how to improve the state of the world instead of perpetuating its evils?

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#62

Post by toomuchtodo »

alephnerd wrote: post #36
542458 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article highlights that many parents whose children are absent are treating the posted assignments/homework as the primary teaching tool, so cutting that back hurts absent kids (I also understand that homework’s has been massively scaled back already in most places). Shorter days unfortunately interferes with school’s role as state-provided daycare for working parents. Later days is a solid idea, and I believe re…

My mom's a teacher in a decent school district in California, and later school times didn't have a significant effect on post-pandemic absences in her experiences (for the students who did come in, it did have a positive effect on their performance though). The brutal truth is a subset of parents just don't care too much about education. It doesn't matter if it's an affluent or a working class district - there will a…

~40% of pregnancies annually in the US are unintended, so the uninvolved/uninterested/under-resourced parent thesis isn’t unreasonable.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#63

Post by kwhitefoot »

mattw2121 wrote: post #9

"because teachers must slow down and adjust their approach to keep everyone on track." Do this and then you'll have your top performers start being absent as well -- out of boredom. I'd suggest sending kids that are lagging behind, and those that have high absentee rates, into remedial classes. Education should get kids excited about learning. From my experience, nothing gets kids more excited than the feeling that t…

If your top performers only perform to order then they really are not top performers at all.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#64

Post by kwhitefoot »

Filligree wrote: post #48
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the ones that are lagging need more personal attention and fine-tuned lessons; unfortunately part of the issue is the teacher shortage, so they can't really make smaller classes.

Maybe sort the classes by ability, then?

The problem with streaming is that it is always tempting to put the best teachers in the more academically inclined classes because that is where they get the most visible effect. But of course it should be the other way about, the very best teachers should ve assigned to the students who find the whole affair the most difficult. The best students can often just be given an assignment and told to get on with it.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#65

Post by alephnerd »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #62
alephnerd wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mom's a teacher in a decent school district in California, and later school times didn't have a significant effect on post-pandemic absences in her experiences (for the students who did come in, it did have a positive effect on their performance though). The brutal truth is a subset of parents just don't care too much about education. It doesn't matter if it's an affluent or a working class district - there will a…

~40% of pregnancies annually in the US are unintended, so the uninvolved/uninterested/under-resourced parent thesis isn’t unreasonable.

Absolutely!

There absolutely is a small subset of parents like that, though being in the Bay Area, access to abortion has been fairly common for decades, especially given the affluence of the district and the relative lack of stigma, so I don't see that as playing a significant factor.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#66

Post by willcipriano »

Filligree wrote: post #48
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the ones that are lagging need more personal attention and fine-tuned lessons; unfortunately part of the issue is the teacher shortage, so they can't really make smaller classes.

Maybe sort the classes by ability, then?

Sort the classes by learning speed, the faster kids aren't expected to do more or harder class work like today instead they get longer lunches, free periods, more recess and early dismissal. Only slow kids need homework, the fast kids get it done as part of class and peer grade themselves.

Frees up teaching resources for the slower kids and respects everyone's time. Puts the incentives in the right places, rewarding the diligent responsible students.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#67

Post by johnloeber »

willis936 wrote: post #57
mattw2121 wrote: post #9

"because teachers must slow down and adjust their approach to keep everyone on track." Do this and then you'll have your top performers start being absent as well -- out of boredom. I'd suggest sending kids that are lagging behind, and those that have high absentee rates, into remedial classes. Education should get kids excited about learning. From my experience, nothing gets kids more excited than the feeling that t…

Those ahead don't need additional benefit. We should be working to bring the left half of the distribution into the fold. If a student is so great that they're skipping out of boredom then there's little that a public institution should do to help them. They can go out with a head start and go get em.

This is a severely regressive policy, and -- by the way -- already the case. The vast majority of per-student resources are spent on the bottom 20% by performance.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#68

Post by loudmax »

fideloper wrote: post #26

Our kids were too young for school during the pandemic (thank god, it seems like it really messed up kids lives). Now they're both in early-years of school. Attendance is kinda interesting! We parents EXTREMELY want the kids to go to school as it's the much-needed break to get our own work done - both in basic upkeep of our lives/household, and in our careers. We need the school hours to be long. Longer than they are…

Absolutely this.

For so many reasons, we need a well functioning public school system. Where "well functioning" means serving various needs of both children and parents. All children.

The importance of education is something that liberals and conservatives actually agree on. But like so much else, it's become a pawn in the culture wars, so that the most dissonant voices at the fringes drown out the common sense concurrence in the middle.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#69

Post by kwhitefoot »

fideloper wrote: post #26

Our kids were too young for school during the pandemic (thank god, it seems like it really messed up kids lives). Now they're both in early-years of school. Attendance is kinda interesting! We parents EXTREMELY want the kids to go to school as it's the much-needed break to get our own work done - both in basic upkeep of our lives/household, and in our careers. We need the school hours to be long. Longer than they are…

> my kindergartener only gets like 20 minutes of recess

What? In Norwegian kidergarten (barnehage) there are no formal lessons at all. The whole point of barnehage is to turn young animals into cooperating members of society not to teach them mathematics and reading, that comes later.

So the whole day is some kind of play time with intervals of helping to lay the table for lunch, having stories read to, going for walks in the woods, and a hell of a lot of playing outside in the rain, snow, mud, climbing, falling, etc.

And also it is the most effective way to teach a language. My English speaking children were able to speak Norwegian from a standing start at three years old within six months and indistinguishable from the natives within a year with no classroom instruction at all.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#70

Post by the_sleaze9 »

mhitza wrote: post #49
542458 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article highlights that many parents whose children are absent are treating the posted assignments/homework as the primary teaching tool, so cutting that back hurts absent kids (I also understand that homework’s has been massively scaled back already in most places). Shorter days unfortunately interferes with school’s role as state-provided daycare for working parents. Later days is a solid idea, and I believe re…

> Shorter days unfortunately interferes with school’s role as state-provided daycare for working parents. If that would be the intent, arcade cabinets, open play fields, parks and other social areas within school grounds would be the way to go. My understanding is that the current school "format" was developed during the industrial revolution stage, and its meant to instill into kids that schedule and "lifestyle". Wh…

As I understand it, USA is one of the highest funded education systems in the world. Funding for education even outpaces USA's um.. robust defense spending.

The trick is to look into total funding - beyond federal funding and into state funding.

I strongly agree that education in the internet age needs to evolve. I would love to see an education system centered around critical and entrepreneurial thinking, financial literacy, Cognitive Behavioral thinking tools. If you give kids something worthwhile they'll use it and come back for more.

https://www.pgpf.org/budget-basics/how-is-k-12-education-fun...

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