In response to Our View — Longer school year could give students an edge up. What has happened to common sense in America? Did it die with Mark Twain and Will Rogers? I can write you several pages concerning this issue, but why should I when a simple analogy can explain what I want to say. “If one has a leaky faucet does one say that it will get better on its own if we just give it a few more days? If anything the faucet will get worse. In other words, giving the problem more days to leak is not going to fix the problem. The problem starts at home with the parents and their expectations for their children’s education. If the parents are not willing to show an interest and help their kids, then how is staying longer in school going to make any difference? In other words, fix the faucet. People do not learn by osmosis. Even good students will get tired and burnt out. (Even a sponge once saturated can no longer soak up anymore liquid.)

The ongoing problem is that no one in power knows how to solve the problem or they do not want to touch the problem (which starts with the parents ... voting parents) so they just dance around the issue costing tax payers more money for bad results. As Will Rogers said, “It’s a good thing we don’t get all the government we pay for.”

Furthermore, the reason Asian children routinely register better math and science scores than the U.S. is once again the parents’ expectations on their children’s level of educational achievement.

Mark Twain was also a man of common sense who once said that, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Come on, politicians and school boards, this Mark Twain’s saying applies to you. Education is fine, but use some common sense that hopefully you have acquired somewhere along the way.

In closing, Mark Twain summed it up when he said, “In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made school boards.”

Gary Price

Anderson