Persuasive Essay About Summer Vacation

Summer vacation is legendary. An integral part of American culture, it is loved by students and loathed by parents. Its influence stretches as far as the economy and media of the country. Nevertheless, such a famed part of American educational customs is unnecessary and even detrimental to students. Its institution hinders learning and it can have a damaging effect on the families and students involved.
Summer vacation and the resulting school schedule require parents to schedule their jobs around their children’s vacation. In fact, many parents (traditionally mothers) are forced to find lower paying, flexible part-time jobs to be available to care for their children during the summer. As a result, mothers are forced to occupy less satisfying positions to assure the care and safety of their children. Parents who do not have flexible work schedules, must spend an inordinate amount of money on childcare during the summer. These costs can be a burden on a family’s budget and can hinder them from saving money for the future (Mazzochi 111-112).
A lack of year-round schooling can damage neighborhoods. In neighborhoods where children are largely left unsupervised because of the lack of affordable summer childcare,

During their absence from school, students forget much of what is learned in the previous school year, notably reading and math skills (French 28). This learning loss disadvantages all students, but harms lower-income students the most. These students typically have little access to the summer learning courses their higher-income counterparts enjoy. This could be one explanation for the eventual large academic gap between lower-income students and higher-income students. What begins as a slow regression every summer, can eventually present itself in a considerable gap once students begin secondary school or higher education (Mazzochi