How Do You Make Kids More Civil?

Imprison them in school for longer! That's what the county may be looking at doing by shortening Spring Break.

Typically, the system's spring break is a full week, beginning the Monday before Good Friday and extending through Easter Monday, both of which are state-mandated holidays.

However, several Maryland counties have a shorter spring break that begins the Thursday before Good Friday and lasts through Easter Monday.

Proponents say a shorter spring break is preferable because it allows the school year to end earlier in June and also allows for more days of instruction before high-stakes state assessment tests, administered to students in the spring.

Board member Sandra French said it would be her preference to "frontload" as much instructional time as possible before the state tests are administered.

Yes, the kids would get out a little sooner and enjoy some more of June without school. But are we doing this merely because of standardized tests that really don't prove anything except the schools that we know aren't doing well? Has the concept of teaching to the test and its drawbacks not caught on with educators?

I would much rather my kid have a few nice spring days off, away from the grind, than score 5 points better on a state assessment that is probably poorly written anyway.

[EDIT: last sentence, score was school - I could've pawned it off as edumacational irony, but I didn't.]