The School Year
It is my belief that the school year for all students should be divided into three equal semesters of seventeen weeks each, with one week off between semesters and an extra week off between the last semester and the new school year. The school year should begin in January and end in December. All grammar, middle and high school students should go to school for the whole year, five (5) days a week for at least seven (7) hours a day, not counting one half hour each for lunch and study time. There should be no sequential grades or division of students by academic progress. There should just be four levels of education which students should advance through based upon their age: pre-school (or kindergarten), elementary school (or primary school), middle school and high school (or secondary school). Nor should students have to receive a certain academic grade in order to proceed on to the next level. Indeed, students should not receive academic grades at all. Rather, they should receive periodic progress reports from the child’s teacher(s). These reports should inform them and their parents or guardians of those areas in which they are excelling, of those areas in which they are on average with their peers and of those areas in which they could use some improvement. No student should ever be told that he or she in danger of failing, is failing or has failed a course. All students should progress on to their next higher level based upon their age, not some arbitrary grade given by a teacher or some invalid and unreliable standardized test. Students should not be held back because they “failed” a subject. No K-12 regular education classroom should have more than 15 students in it and no special education classroom should have more than 8 students in it. Special education classes should have only one exceptionality per classroom. Every K-12 classroom should have at least 5 computers in it with Internet connections. Computers should not have any kind of filters on them that would prevent the students from doing research. All K-12 teachers should have at least one half hour planning time for every hour they teach. These teachers should have a teacher’s assistant or paraprofessional with them at all times. The assistant should also be with the teacher during his or her planning time. The calendar should have thirteen months of 28 days each; each month beginning on Sunday the first and ending on Saturday the 28th. The new month (Medium) should be placed at the middle of the year between June and July in order to balance out the present Gregorian Calendar. This makes for 364 days. To cover the 365th day a “Non-day” should be placed between Saturday the 14th of Medium and Sunday the 15th of Medium. This day would not be Saturday or Sunday. It would not be the 14th or the 15th. It would be a national holiday called Non-day. This would give the calendar 365 days. To cover Leap Year, every four years a Leap Day should be placed between Saturday, December 28th and Sunday, January 1st. It would not be Saturday or Sunday. It would not be the 28th or the 1st. It would be Leap Day, a national holiday. In this way each month could begin on Sunday and end on Saturday and each month would have exactly 28 days in it, with four Sundays, four Mondays, etc. for each month. Such a calendar would be excellent for record keeping. Of course, one would have to wait until the traditional Gregorian Calendar began on a Sunday to implement this calendar. One would also have to follow the Gregorian reforms for leap year. The first day of school should begin on Monday, January 9th. There should be a one week mid-semester break, starting at the close of classes on Friday, February 27th. This should be followed by eight weeks of classes, beginning on March 9th and ending on Friday, May 6th. This should be followed by a one week end of semester break. The second semester would then start on Monday, May 16th, with a mid-semester break coming at the close of classes on the 6th of the month Medium. The second half of the second semester should then begin on Monday, the 16th day of Medium and end on Friday, August 13th, which would start the second semester one week break. The third and final semester for the school year should then start on Monday, August 23rd with its mid-semester break starting with the close of classes on October 13th. The second half of the third semester should begin on October 23rd. The school year should end on Friday, December 20th. Then a two week break should separate this school year from the next school year, which should begin the following Monday, January 9th. This way every school semester would begin on a Monday and end on a Friday, each semester would have about 75 days in it and the school year would have 225 days in it counting holidays. With a school year of approximately 225 days the students would not be hurt academically if the school had to close for a day or two for some disaster or unplanned emergency of some kind. If the school had to be closed for an extended length of time, then school officials could make other arrangements for the students to attend classes. As for holidays, the placing of these days should be up to the proper authorities – with the consent of the people. For example, whether Christmas would be celebrated on its traditional day, December 25th, (which would be the fourth day before the end of the year) or be celebrated on December 22nd (which would be the seventh day before the end of the year, where it is presently celebrated), would be a decision which would have to be agreed upon. The same decision would have to be made for all the other holidays. Using the above will probably not see any noticeable changes for at least 12 to 15 years. There will probably not be any substantial changes for about 25 years and there one will not see any drastic changes for about 50 years. But it is my belief that it will eventually result in lower dropout rates, unemployment rates, poverty rates and crime rates. Finally, these are only my own personal thoughts. They are not meant to be dogmatic. Someone else may be able to devise a better school calendar. If so, it is my wish that everyone would follow the better idea, for we are all here in order to help our children to grow and to learn. Go to each month to see each month and
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