BELGIUM, FLANDERS- Caroline Gennez from the Belgian Socialist party wants a longer schoolday instead of from 8:00 h to 16:00 , she wants that the school starts on 8:00h and ends on 18:00, a difference of 4 houres and a ten houres during schoolday.

Based on article [ http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=dmf20140124_00946623 ]

Edited 1/27/2014 17:31:22

Quality over quantity.

It's not necessarily important to make the days longer, but rather to make the quality of the teachers and curriculum better. Also, the growing Turkish and Arabic minorities are changing the face of such a small country and it's having a big impact since they're choosing schools that put religious orthodox over rationalization (this is a fact so if you're offended, bite me), which is something a lot of religions do and I find that pretty sad. I'm very religious, but I believe the ability to use logic and be rational is fundamental to growth and development at all stages of live.

Anyways, back to the point, longer days won't change the education students are getting if they have crappy teachers and a bad curriculum, end of story. If the parents want to send their kid to a boarding school I'm sure there's a couple options in Belgium, otherwise 8:00-18:00 is TOO MUCH! Even adults can't legally work more than 10 hours a day in several EU countries!!!

Edited 1/25/2014 11:53:22

10 hours is a normal workday in China and was in the Soviet Union.
I guess they want to make us communist and non-religious.

Your post is full of mistakes (and I'm not talking about spelling or grammar because I know you are not a native English speaker).

1: She wrote this in her book which also includes other topics that are not realistic such as two prime ministers. This is her personal opinion, but it is abundantly clear that nobody really cares about it except for page filling in popular press.

2: She does not have the support of her own party on this (which is explicitely stated in the article you link yourself and can be easily verified).

3: She's NOT a member of the Flemish parliament, she's a member of the national parliament. As you certainly know, education is a regional (i.e. Flemish in this case) matter.

4: The claim "12% of children of Antwerp chose Islam schools" cannot be true because there simply aren't that many Islam schools in Antwerp. Maybe exactly 12 is more correct?

5: The latest estimate of the number of Muslims in Brussels capital region is actually 25.5%, not 18%. Or do you refer to the smaller municipality of Brussels which only counts about 165 000 inhabitants?

6: I wonder where you got "Flanders is the seventh most educated region/country in the world". The two most trustworthy sources on this matter both look at Belgium (with ranks 10 and 17). Flanders ranked 7th in the field of math for 4th grade in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2011, but it is not in the top 10 for math 8th grade, nor for science, so it certainly is not 7th if you would combined the results.

7: 8 o'clock in the morning until 16h these days? Few schools start before 8.30 as far as I am aware.

8: 8 to 16 -> 8 to 18 is a difference of 4 hours? It seems you are not 7th in 4th grade math.

9: Belgium loves the number 6? Nice joke. Not.

10: Her name is Gennez, double n.

Finally: if you know your papers a little bit, you know that "het Nieuwsblad" is not thrustworhty source whatsoever.
And what exactly is the relevance of this topic for the WarLight audience?

Nice homework project. Mother would be proud.

8 o'clock in the morning until 16h these days? Few schools start before 8.30 as far as I am aware

My school starts at 8.15 ;_;

7: 8 o'clock in the morning until 16h these days? Few schools start before 8.30 as far as I am aware.


Mine starts at 7:00 a.m. We must be talking about only Belgian schools here. Or my school is crazy. It may just be crazy

"Finally: if you know your papers a little bit, you know that "het Nieuwsblad" is not thrustworhty source whatsoever.And what exactly is the relevance of this topic for the WarLight audience?"

1. So what is "thrustworthy," in your opinion?

2. Relevance? You provided lots of interesting details about Belgium, which is a map played in this game. Maybe the role players can use your ideas in their games.

Edited 1/30/2014 15:33:52

I believe we are on the off-topic section of this forum, aren't we?