A fair amount, including a fair amount that individual teachers, not just principles, school districts, or state boards of education could do better, more thoroughly, or differently, according to this substitute teacher.
Basically, it sounds like, short of a 200-day school year, this is one of the biggest things wrong with the American educational system. (The author notes that in Britain, for example, the "first line of defense" in a teacher absence is other teachers picking up what they can. She also notes that British teachers have one-third fewer absences.)
Read all about it.
Basically, a story or column like this reinforces my impression that America wants to do public education on the cheap, while undeservedly resting on its laurels. The home of free public education, like the home of liberty, has few laurels to rest on today, though. That includes the too-short school year, the lack of money for K-12 education (the only reason we're No. 1 overall in the world on educational spending is our college output, which demonstrates money does matter) and more. Hell, for that matter, the money spent on high school athletics and coaching salaries shows that gung-ho conservatives know that money matters in education.
Behind this, and the belief that America is still the home of freedom, the arsenal of democracy or what-not, when there are things we could learn from Canada, or countries of western Europe, ultimately lies that old bugaboo:
American exceptionalism.
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