Every society has its myths, and here is one of Michigan's most damaging: Kids today spend as much, or more, time in school than their parents did, way back when.
Think again. Thanks to a new study by the non-partisan, nonprofit Center for Michigan, we now know that they don't even spend as many days in school as their older siblings did a decade ago.
Freed six years ago from a time-honored requirement to offer at least 180 days of classes, most school boards shortened the year to save money. What they did instead was to make each day a few minutes longer. But experts say that when it comes to actually getting an education, that is worse than useless.
"Trading a couple more minutes a day in school for fewer days is outrageous," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said. His predecessor, Tom Watkins, was even angrier.
"This action will help bankrupt our state," said Mr. Watkins, now an education and business consultant who spends a lot of time in China. "They clearly understand (in China) the connection between education and economic prosperity."
Michigan apparently doesn't. That seems especially baffling, given that survey after survey has shown that the state is lagging its neighbors in the percentage of young adults with college educations.
Standards at all levels need to be rigorous, and children need to learn more -- especially with the permanent decline of the brawn-based manufacturing economy. The days when a high school diploma was all that was needed to get a relatively good-paying job on the assembly line are gone, and will never return.
John Bebow, executive director of the Center for Michigan, spent two months compiling the study, which makes appalling reading for anyone concerned about education and the state's future.
Things weren't supposed to be this way, said former State Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, a Republican who, ironically, is now superintendent of an intermediate school district in St. Clair.
The intent was to gradually lengthen the minimum required school year to 190 days by the 2006-07 year. But instead, lawmakers chose to drop the day requirement altogether in favor of mandating a minimum number of classroom hours -- 1,098.
State Sen. Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, was one of those who pushed to drop the requirement that school be in session a certain number of days. "We wanted to make it possible for schools to save money any way they could," he said.
Well, they accomplished that. But even if it was adequate to specify kids be in school for 1,098 hours -- something educators say is nonsense -- guess what. Many districts don't even achieve that.
That's because there is no longer any requirement that they make up days canceled because of weather or other problems.
Traverse City Area Public Schools, for example, is one of the rare districts that still require 180 days -- 182, in fact. But last year, three of those days were canceled due to weather. Traverse City elementary students ended up in class for only 1,084 hours. And that was far from the worst performance: Republic-Michigamme schools in the Upper Peninsula held classes only 139 days last year.
While Michigan is reducing school days, most other nations in the industrialized world are increasing them. Japanese students attend school 220 days a year. South Koreans, 225 days. Both countries are beating Michigan in test scores.
Michigan seems clearly choosing not to be competitive for the jobs and in the economy of the future. Roger Cole, superintendent of another district in the Upper Peninsula, Stephenson Area Public Schools, is especially frustrated by it all.
"It's not about education, it's about money," he told the Center for Michigan. "It's not even about what is best for kids. We just try to do the best for the kids with the money we have.
"That's the ugly reality."
There are those who are trying to do something about this. Arne Duncan, the new U.S. Secretary of Education, is calling for lengthening the American school day, so we can keep up with the rest of the world. In Michigan, the Michigan Association of School Boards is lobbying the Legislature to require a longer school year.
But with next year's budget deficit approaching $2 billion, and aid to schools in severe peril of drastic cuts, that may be a tall order.
Difficult, but necessary, the experts say, if Michigan and its kids are to have a future.
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