Post #9: Thoughts on Fischbowl's "180 Days?"

The blog entitled 180 Days? is really insightful. The post asks the question: "How many days of school are students actually learning and the teacher actually teaching?" If you think about it, there are a lot of days during the year that are wasted on other things besides learning. How can this problem be eliminated? Can this problem be eliminated? Mr. Fisch presented these questions to teachers at the school where he is an educator, and opened the floor to suggestions and comments. Not everyone was thrilled by Mr. Fisch's suggestions. I agree that something needs to be done about these so called "wasted days," but what? A longer school year, less testing, less extracurricular activities? Not very good answers to an already exhausted staff and student body.
I also watched a powerpoint presentation by Mr. Fisch that really put the wasted days into perspective. It estimated that sixty out of one-hundred, eighty days of school are not used to educate. Some of the days are allocated to testing, and absences, both student and teacher. Other days were the first and last day of classes, others for parties and events. but the question still exists: "What are we to do about it?" No one really has the answer, but the post proves an interesting point.