“Our school day is too short,” Duncan said. “Our school week is too short.”

Duncan says reform proposals coming from the Obama administration will include longer school years, plus Saturday school and longer days.

Duncan says some of the time could be optional but that American students are falling behind because of the traditional school calendar.

“If you don’t help them catch up,” said Bennet, who was DPS superintendent until he was appointed to the Senate in January, “they’re going to be lost.”

Um, duh.  172 instructional days a year here in Colorado. As I’ve written:

Imagine trying to qualify for the Olympics by running a four-minute mile.  Except you have to do it in 3:08 while the people in each adjoining lane can run an extra 52 seconds.  That is what we are now asking our students to do when competing in a world economy when they go to school 172 days while other countries get 220.

The silence on this issue speaks for itself.