Do you support the Obama administration's proposal to have students spend more time in school each day while lengthening the school year?

Im not a parent, so Im sure Im missing something here but if they lengthen the school year and the time kids are in school, shouldnt that equate to less money and time kids spend in not only child care, but afterschool programs that also cost parents money? Seems like a good idea in theory, but id like to hear what others think.

No, children need time to be children. They need more quality education, not quantity. There is indeed a big difference. If we started teaching more to educate and with a true focus on learning and less to appease a standardized test, we would elimiate a lot of issues with education in the US. Children need time to be outside, play sports, play make-believe, time with parents, take piano lessons, karate lessons, etc. As a working mom I do pay out a lot of money in daycare, however I recognize the importance of down time for my kids. How would you like it if your boss suddenly told you that your company was reducing your vacation days and at the same time lengthening your work day? This would leave you with a lot less time for your family and your hobbies and interests. Also, as a parent of a very bright child with ADHD I recognize that it is important for him to have time to activities outside of school. He is one of many of thousands of children like him around the country that have to work twice as hard as the other kids to make the same good grades and he struggles more socially due to the fact that he also stutters. Extracirricular activities outside of school for him and others like him are very important to his self-esteem and his sense of accomplishment. It is difficult enough with the homework load that most children currently have during the school year simply to maintin a healthy balance between time for hard work and time for play. Adding more time to the school day and/or lengthening the school year would make participating in many of those extracirricular activities much more difficult or impossible for most families. President Obama needs to focus more on putting a stop to forcing schools to teach kids how to pass a standardized test and more effort on quality teaching and back to basics learning. In this instance, the President is way off the mark in my opinion.