Schools across the United States are ditching the traditional school year calendar for a year-round school schedule. What exactly is year-round school? According to www.opcionescholarparaninos.org, it is a school with a calendar that exchanges a longer summer vacation for several shorter breaks at various times in order to reduce the need for extra review. Most students in year-round school are in class about the same number of days as students on a traditional school calendar. What some people don’t understand about year-round is that it has many negative effects on important factors such as time for family vacations, maintaining a summer job, expenses for reconstruction, and participating in after school sports. These are crucial aspects
…show more content…
In a year-round school, it may be hard to maintain a job or travel with family in the one month of summer that the school gives students as their summer break. Laura Kelsey, author of “Should You Give Up Summer Vacation” claims, “year-round schools have roughly the same number of vacation days as traditional school calendars” (Kelsey 28). The traditional school calendar gives students 3 months of summer vacation, allowing students and teachers a much needed break. Some would argue that those summer months are the downfall to losing some of the material taught in the previous year of school. However, Kelsey also states, “Learning doesn’t have to stop for kids on long summer breaks. Activities like making Vines, shooting hoops, and reading can be extremely enriching” (28). Students and teachers accumulate a great deal of stress throughout the school year. This summer break helps them wind down and become stress free for the summer. It also lets teachers have enough time to get material and supplies ready for the next school year, which is not easy within a year-round schedule. Multiple teens depend on summer jobs to help pay for family expenses and to fuel their vehicles to hang out with friends. It would be almost impossible to hire a teen for one month out of the summer because most businesses search for long-term employees. Also, parents that rely on that working teenager may struggle to get by if their child attends a year-round school. These are just some of the possible outcomes if schools choose to switch to a year-round agenda. This is unacceptable. Allan G. Osborne Jr., a retired principal of the Snug Harbor Community School in Quincy, Massachusetts, expresses that evidence for year-round schools that show improvement are sparse and many educators are reluctant to experiment with year-round school schedules (Osborne Jr. 28). This view is important to consider
In a year-round school, it may be hard to maintain a job or travel with family in the one month of summer that the school gives students as their summer break. Laura Kelsey, author of “Should You Give Up Summer Vacation” claims, “year-round schools have roughly the same number of vacation days as traditional school calendars” (Kelsey 28). The traditional school calendar gives students 3 months of summer vacation, allowing students and teachers a much needed break. Some would argue that those summer months are the downfall to losing some of the material taught in the previous year of school. However, Kelsey also states, “Learning doesn’t have to stop for kids on long summer breaks. Activities like making Vines, shooting hoops, and reading can be extremely enriching” (28). Students and teachers accumulate a great deal of stress throughout the school year. This summer break helps them wind down and become stress free for the summer. It also lets teachers have enough time to get material and supplies ready for the next school year, which is not easy within a year-round schedule. Multiple teens depend on summer jobs to help pay for family expenses and to fuel their vehicles to hang out with friends. It would be almost impossible to hire a teen for one month out of the summer because most businesses search for long-term employees. Also, parents that rely on that working teenager may struggle to get by if their child attends a year-round school. These are just some of the possible outcomes if schools choose to switch to a year-round agenda. This is unacceptable. Allan G. Osborne Jr., a retired principal of the Snug Harbor Community School in Quincy, Massachusetts, expresses that evidence for year-round schools that show improvement are sparse and many educators are reluctant to experiment with year-round school schedules (Osborne Jr. 28). This view is important to consider