Another lesson from our American intern, Charlene...

Governor Schwarzenegger wants to skim time off my home state's already short public school year.

A 175-day year would further diminish the standards of the California school system, with its low math and science scores and high dropout rates.

Merged with the recent billions in budget cuts to education and several stop-gap US public school schemes that have failed dramatically, it seems like an impossible suggestion.

The money-saving plan may, however, be just a scare tactic to push unyielding parties towards new taxes instead.

If The Terminator is on a serious mission to make an instant buck in the era of decreasing tax reserves, he should know that playing hooky will just deal another tough blow to a system that’s already down.

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