School Year Extension

Thanks, Pro.Thus far my opponent has made 4 arguments in favor of extending the school year. I will begin by refuting those contributions, and then outlining why extending the school year would probably not be a good idea. == Pro's Case == 1. Other countries have longer school years.First, you'll notice that this in itself is not a compelling reason to extend our school year. I could note that some countries have shorter school years (such as Zimbabwe), and likewise that in itself is not a reason to shorten our school year. We must look at how extending the school year has proven specifically advantageous. Recent reports indicate a number of countries exceeding the United States in areas of math and reading, with the top two being South Korea and Finland [1]. While it's true that South Korea has a longer school year, Finnish students attend school for only 190 days -- just 10 days more than in the U.S., and at fewer days than 85% of the world's developed nations [2]. Considering Finland topped the list in education rankings, this seems to indicate that factors other than the length of time in school have played a bigger role in terms of success. I will revisit what those factors might be later on in the debate. For now, I've negated Pro's proposition that longer time spent in school necessarily leads to better results. 2. Pro writes, "So 7 weeks of 5 and a half days of school, with one or two weeks vacation in between them... It is efficient and gives us a break instead of having one day off here and there."This is merely Pro's opinion about what he'd prefer. It offers no evidence or analysis in favor of the resolution. 3. Pro says, "They allow you to study trade skills or even study to get into a university. This is also a great alternative for America. It may not extend our years at school but with the studying trade skills or even to get into a university is great."We already have the opportunity to attend trade school and/or a university in America. This is not something that proves extending the American school year (up until high school) would be beneficial. 4. Pro would love to attend summer camp where he can learn other languages.If anything, this point is in favor of Con. It indicates that Pro would like to have free time to explore his own interests. Likewise, other students would like to use their free time to explore their own interests. No reason has been given as to why it should be mandatory for students to spend more time in school so they could potentially learn additional languages. Again, that is merely Pro's preference. At this point, it should be noted that Pro has not given us any sufficient reason whatsoever to extend the school year. The only remotely relevant argument he made was that other countries tend to have longer school years, and in many instances perform better on standardized tests because of it. However, I've provided evidence that longer school years are not necessarily to thank. With that said, I'll move on to my contentions. == Con's Case == 1. What link is there to more time spent in school and better performance? Looking back on the Finnish example, we see that Finnish students spend a similar amount of time in school as American students, yet have performed much better on recent tests. Educators such as Harvard professor Tony Wagner have researched possible causes, and attributed Finnish success to other factors other than length of time spent in school. Most notably, he emphasized the Finnish supplying a tremendous investment in teaching. Other contributing factors include reduced classroom size, a decreased emphasis on standardized tests, etc. [3]. In South Korea, they spend a ton of time in school, but also a much higher emphasis on education in general. For example, even though they have optional breaks, most students choose to forfeit their breaks and attend school anyway! Further, even though they already spend a great deal of time during the day at school, many seek private tutors outside of school and study well into the night [4]. This reveals a completely different cultural view on the merit of education. In other words, even with longer school years, American kids just have a different value system, upbringing and overall way of life. In fact, there's reason to believe that more time spent in school could just lead to more resentment regarding school. As it stands, Korean kids are working their butts off and wanting more, whereas American kids are complaining about the tiny bit of work they do in comparison. Extending the school year will not address this disparity in values. 2. How reliable are standardized tests anyway?Ironically, those who scored at the top of the standardized tests (the Finnish) are the ones who place less emphasis on the importance of standardized tests. While it's true other countries may perform better on paper than Americans, we cannot ignore that there are other factors that contribute to a country or individual's success. For example, you don't need a college degree to be an entrepreneur. Some of the best businessmen and tecchies are NOT college grads, including Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Many jobs in this country rely on manual labor or other trades and vocations. While it's true education is very important, the most important thing is literacy - and the U.S. has a 99% literacy rate [5]. In short, American students may not perform best on multiple choice tests and whatnot, but we're still pretty savvy. Standardized tests have proven to be unreliable indicators as measures of intelligence to boot. 3. Who is going to pay for it? A lack of funding is one of the biggest reasons the quality of education is declining. We know that investing in better teachers can help. However longer school years means paying teachers even more, and governments are already struggling to pay the teachers for the work they do now. More and more teachers are being laid off across the board in the U.S. In addition to having to pay teachers for more time worked, the government (tax payers) would also have to fund other amenities such as supplying overall more staff (lunch aids, janitors, etc.) and paying more bills (electric -- especially because of the a.c. which would be mandatory -- heat, water, etc.). Right now, we simply cannot afford this increase in cost.4. Extending the school year takes time from families and students.People utilize their summers to attend camp, travel, spend time with family or explore their own personal hobbies and interests. This is a good thing. 5. People who want more schooling can attend private school.Those who want more out of their education can pay for it themselves (not expect the tax payers to fund it) by seeking out private schools with longer school years. If that's not optimal, they can invest in intellectual after-school programs or tutoring. This is even more beneficial because it allows the parents and students to customize what they want to learn about, rather than imposing it on the entire school district. I'll leave it at that for now (I'm running out of characters anyway). The gist of my argument is that it is not the length of time that students spend in school that indicates intelligence or overall measures of success. There are ways we can reform education without extending the school year, which can both keep costs down and focus on factors that can make a substantial difference in terms of the quality of education students in the U.S. receive.== Con's Sources == [1] http://www.usatoday.com...;[2] http://www.greatschools.org...;[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com...;[4] http://asiasociety.org...;[5] http://en.wikipedia.org...;