Lengthen the School Year?

My two older children were 9 and 6 respectively on voting day, 2000. Both were passionately George W. Bush supporters on the basis of a single issue: Al Gore's expressed interest in lengthening the school year.

My two older children were 9 and 6 respectively on voting day, 2000. Both were passionately George W. Bush supporters on the basis of a single issue: Al Gore's expressed interest in lengthening the school year. Plus they had heard a clip from a speech by Bush on TV that used the phrase "No school across America..." They didn't need to hear more. They accepted that pledge as a solemn commitment.

Almost a decade later, my children - the third is now the same age as the middle child was then - have made their peace with the unfortunate continuation of schooling in America. Happily, summer holiday also remains a fact of life.

If President Obama wishes to play school superintendent, here's an issue that will make much more of a difference to the academic performance of America's schoolchildren: heed the scientific research about teenagers' sleep patterns and reverse the crazy trend towards an earlier and earlier start of the school day. The adolescent brain is not operating at 7:20 am, much less at the 6 am wakeup call for 7:20 arrival.  It's not enough for the kids to do their homework. They also have to remember to bring it back to school the following day!