Not content with angering senior citizens, President Barack Obama has turned his guns on the nationâÄôs kids, proposing that American schools should add time to the school day to âÄústay competitiveâÄù with other countries. Our school systemâÄôs calendar, Education Secretary Arne Duncan explains, is âÄúbased upon the agrarian economy, and not too many of our kids are working the fields today.âÄù OK, great. Except that what the calendar was based upon is irrelevant if it isnâÄôt the cause of our present educational discontents. ItâÄôs as if our labor secretary were to argue that professional cashiers are poor because there arenâÄôt enough hours in the work day. Making the school year longer will only mean our kids are getting sub-par education for a longer time. The problem, simply put, isnâÄôt the calendar, but what the calendar is being filled with. ItâÄôs true that American students are lagging badly behind other countries, both Western and Eastern, on standardized tests on a range of topics from mathematics to literacy. And it is indisputably correct that our education system direly needs reform. While nothing can replace the foundation of a stable household and nurturing parents, there are certain actions schools can take in order to better prepare students to meet lifeâÄôs challenges, both the modern and those that have existed since time immemorial. This column was accessed via and originally published by UWire. Please send comments to [email protected].