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Obama Wants Kids to Spend More Summer in School
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Sep 27, 2010
Modified Sep 27, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Sep 27, 2010
Modified Sep 27, 2010
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Even if your kid goes to public school, a new survey shows that sending them to school is damn expensive. Between notebooks, new clothes, lunch money and apparently an iPhone (is that on the school supplies list these days?), the average American 10-year-old costs his or her parents $729.50 for the school year. In the city, it's around $971. Actress Tawny Cypress told the Post that her 10-year-old has an iPhone and a bag from Crumpler, which run upwards of $150. She justified the expenses, saying, "He's trying to keep up with what's cool, so it's OK." Because what good is an education when you have such a severely inadequate backpack?
Meanwhile, President Obama wants to get our fashionable kids competing with the rest of the world by extending the school year an extra month—like most other "advanced countries." He said on NBC this morning, "That month makes a difference. It means students are losing a lot of what they learn during the school year during the summer...Now, that's going to cost some money, but I think that would be money well spent."
Though it would mean less spent in things like summer camp tuition, 54.5% of NBC viewers say they don't support adding another month to the school year and that summer vacation is important for kids. Perhaps they don't fall into the Malcom Gladwell camp of believing summer vacations are a source of the education discrepancy between the rich and the poor, but one commenter reminded us why we have this system in the first place: "This needs to be state by state. Some rural areas still need kids off in the summer to help with farm work. Yes, it is still needed."
Tagged
education
extended school year
president obama
school
school expenses
school supplies
Jaya Saxena
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