🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <holly.224@mailhub.scf.lmsc.lockheed.com> holly@mailhub.scf.lmsc.lockheed.com (Holly Wise) writes:
>
>I think the biggest advantage of year-round schooling is that kids don't 
>forget what they learned the year before.  

	Here's a little statistic that we kept getting thrown at us when we
	were in college training to be teachers:  85% of what you learn is
	forgotten within two weeks of having learned it without reinforcement.
	We were also told that much (not all) of this forgeting is necessary
	to the healthy condition of a person.  High pressure maintenance of
	information works for a while, but eventually catches up with the
	student.  Keep banging on the kid without cease and you will have
	a stressed out, nervous wreck that may turn suicidal.  Yes there are
	studies to this effect, no I do not have references handy.  This was
	all from 10 years ago.

>Any teacher can probably tell you 
>that it takes months to re-teach the children what they taught them the year 
>before after 3 months vacation.  

	Not necessarily so.  Kids that were taught well, including having had
	the right overall environment for learning tend to remember MOST of
	what they learned the year before.  This is especially true when you
	run an open book class where students are free to look materials up,
	even during a test.  When you give then the basic skills required for
	intellectual pursuits including the proper use of library resources,
	you give them a virtually unlimited potential for learning and 
	developing their skills and interests.

	Also be aware that a child need not be a rocket scientist bt the
	end of the first grade.  If left to their own devices and given
	good conscientious guidance, they will develop themselves into
	fine young intellects all by themselves without being man handled.

	I have taught some pretty good kids and I have taught the worst the
	streets of the South Bronx has to offer.  The "good" kids did not
	forget very much at all, by the time September rolled around, and
	indeed in many cases were quite eager to get to it once again.  The
	"bad" students, generally speaking, tended to forget significantly
	more, though it never failed to amaze me some of the things the WOULD
	remember; things I would have never have expected them to retain.

	People are amazingly complex, and so the "bigger hammer" approach
	will fail every time.

>Although I have no expertise in the area 
>and know no one who did go to year-round schools, this sounds logical to me.

	But when you DO acquire expertise in this area, suddenly you will see
	the great folly that this represents, so sorry.

	-Andy V.