Westfield Students Voice Opposition to Obama Education Plan

President Barack Obama's proposal to extend the school year and the school day is being met by opposition from students in Westfield.

The president has proposed a plan which could extend the school day by 90 minutes and the school year by a month. He has said a longer school day and year would boost American school performance and allow for better competition in the global economy. Other countries typically have longer school years and days, with the U.S. school calendar of 180 days designed around the agriculture industry, when students were needed to work on family farms in the summer months. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the current economy necessitates a move away from an agrarian based education calendar.

Westfield students though disagree with the president, saying his proposal would actually hurt education by cutting down on time for extracurricular activities and sending students into a cycle of solely homework and school. It was suggested by some students that Obama not use the proposal for all schools but for lower performing schools and keep high performing schools like Westfield out of the proposal.

"I think that for high school where it is a challenging curriculum and we have a lot of challenging courses and students have their hands full with work, a longer year would cause more stress," said Scott Bernstein, a senior at Westfield High School.

Bernstein said students at WHS often get three to four hours of homework each night and keep seeing more challenges produced in the classes. He said the education has been good but a longer day and year would be more harmful.

Bernstein's thoughts are not just confined to a high school student, Dylan Scott, a sixth grade student at Edison, agrees that the additional time could actually harm academic performance.

"If (Obama) extends it, kids will not want to be there anymore," he said. "It depends on how much you want to learn. If you feel you want to learn you will. A lot of people feel they learn enough."

Tess Brown, a fourth grade student at McKinley, said she is concerned about the ability of her and her friends to concentrate during a longer school day. She noted she is frequently hungry after school lets out at 3 p.m. and needs an after school snack. While her own preference is to cut back the school day by an hour and keep summer vacation at two months, Brown said that she believes that Obama should incorporate an additional snack time in to a longer day.

While not calling for a snack time in the plan, Bernstein agreed with Brown, saying that a longer day would require more break time than currently available in the Westfield school day. He said that should the Obama plan go forward he would want to see either an extended lunch period or a study hall added in. Bernstein noted that the study hall would allow students more time for homework and class projects as well.

Concern over the fate of extracurricular activities is one of the main concerns for Westfield students. Bernstein said the after school clubs and sports actually supplement the curriculum and allows students to learn things not taught in the classroom. Westfield High School has a enterperneurial culture in terms of allowing students to create clubs catered towards their interest areas.

"I think when a school offers a lot of extracurriculars it allows the kids the chance to go outside the curriculum in the classroom," Bernstein said. "They can engage themselves and take on a leadership role."

Liam Keller, a freshman at the high school, had similar thoughts to Bernstein but noted that he is more concerned with Obama's idea of cutting a month out of summer vacation. He said the summer sports teams and camps help supplement the curriculum in allowing students a chance to explore their own interest areas outside of the classroom.

Keller said frequently he and his peers spend the summer exploring interest areas they can't do in-depth when tied to the structured school curriculum, including sports and music. He believes this allows for students to become more well rounded, which will help in the global economy.

"It gives us a sense of individuality to do what we want," Keller said. "They give us a sense of responsibility. If you cut summer vacation down a month, it will cut down responsibility for us."

While most students were against Obama's plan, at least one WHS senior, Zach LaPorta, is in favor of the president's idea of extending the school year. LaPorta said he agrees with the president's premise that the extension will allow American students a better chance to compete in the global economy.

In order to accomplish an increase in the school day, LaPorta ia proposing that seven minutes be added to each of the high school's nine periods, which would allow for an additional 63 minutes on the school day. He believes this will allow for more material to be placed in the curriculum. He said he has conducted research on the subject outside of reading Obama's proposals.

"I think it is necessary to increase the school year because other countries have more rigourous education systems than the U.S.," LaPorta said. "If we are to compete in the global economy we need to make tough decisions. "

Bernstein said he thinks the current school day actually better prepares students for the global economy than increasing the time in the classroom. He noted that businesses frequently require employees to work on tight deadlines and absorb a lot of information in a short period of time.

"I think the lifestyle in America is doing as much as possible in as little time as possible," he said.

Scott Brown, a sixth grade student at Edison, said he would prefer if Obama kept his attention on other national priorities instead of tinkering with the length of the school day. He said that he does not believe there will be success in having the president's plan succeed.

"I would say to President Obama, bad move buddy," he said. "Why don't you concentrate on getting people out of the war than in having us be in school?"

Editor's Note: Westfield Patch Intern Josh Solomon contributed to this report.