Persuasive Essay On Summer Break

Kaya Mcgowan

Mrs.Misselhorn

6th Hour Language Arts Should Kids Get a Summer Break?

29 March 2017

Is getting rid of our traditional long summer vacation a good idea? I don’t think it is for many reasons such as it’s hard to set up games and family time, it’s good to have a long break from the social and academic pressure, and it has been an American tradition for about 120 years. That is why I think we should still have a long summer break. It doesn’t affect kids as much as other people think.

The first reason why kids should have a summer break is because it is hard to set up games and family time. According to “The Disadvantages of Extending the School Year,” planning vacations can be a problem, especially if the children are on different tracks. In addition, if schools on an all year calendar compete in sports with a traditional school calendar it can be difficult to set up events (“The Disadvantages of Extending the School Year”). As a student, summer vacations are a time

to spend with family and to do sports. It would be hard to set up a good family vacation if there was no summer break. According to another article by Ken McCleary, there is pressure on who goes on a family vacation, when, where and the length when attending to a year round school. Another problem for planning vacations could be sports(McCleary). That’s why kids need summer time off for family time and sports.
Another reason there should be a long summer vacation is because it has been an American tradition for about twenty years.

According to Daniel Luzer, kids used to get the summer off in the early days because it was the primary growing season. Summer break didn’t exist until the 20th century(Luzer). Many students think that it is a good idea to continue the tradition because it has been like this for a long time. Even though kids don’t work with crops now it still gets really hot outside. Even though we have air conditioning classrooms still get hot at times. Another article by Lucas Reily states, during the summer class rooms were half empty and school wasn’t mandatory years ago. Lucas Reily states, “To top it off, air conditioning was decades away, and city schools during summertime were miserable, half-empty ovens.” Eventually 60 days got cut from the school year (Reily). This is why summer break has been an American tradition for about twenty years and it’s a good idea to continue

it.
In addition to having a summer break for sports/family time and to continue the American tradition, it is good to have a long break from academic and social pressure. According to Helena Van Brande, summer break is a few months for kids to take a break from school and homework. It is also a time to spend quality time with friends and family. Brande also says, a vacation is important for both physical and mental health. Stress can be caused from lack of vacation or rest (Brande). School is stressful and it is nice to take a break and have family time. It is also nice to have freedom. If kids went to school during the summer, they would be even more stressed out then they already are. According to another article by Lucas Reily, the brain could get strained if it is over used. Additionally, students have a chance of straining their brains if they go to school year round (Reily). School does stress out a lot of students including myself. It is nice to have a long break from academic and social pressure.
On the other hand, some people would say kids forget what they have learned the previous school year. According to “Summer learning loss: Do kids miss out?”, long vacations cause “summer slump. Some kids forget learning skills, but some families encourage kids to learn during the summer. The article also states, a 2010 study shown poor kids that read over the summer gets better test scores. Learning during the summer helps kids found in a white paper by the Georgia Family Connection Partnership (“Summer learning loss: Do kids miss out?”). Basically, kids that don’t practice school work during the summer end up getting lower test scores the next school year because kids forget what they have learned. According to article by Jeff Smink, summer learning loss gets worse every year and it affects student’s success. Smink also says, no matter how much was made during the year children will come back even more behind (Smink). Yes, it has been proven that students forget what they have learned in school during the summer, but there are ways to prevent that from happening like reading.
In conclusion, summer break affects setting up games and family time, it’s good to have a long break from the social and academic pressure, and it has been an American tradition for about 120 years. I can’t imagine having a summer without freedom. I think that we should keep our traditional long summer vacation.

Works Cited
Brande Van, Helena. “Summer Vacation:Necessary Revolution or stunting our minds.” The UndergraduateTimes. The Undergraduate Times. 26 August 2014. Ugtimes.com/2014/08/opinion/summer-vacation-necessary-relaxation-or-stunting-our-minds/. 14 March 2017.
Luzer, Daniel. “Why do we still have Summer Vacation?” Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard. 01 June 2013. https://psmag.com//why-do-we-still-have-summer-vacation-8ccff6fff9ef#.oyoi75jlx
McCleary, Ken. “year-round school changes traditional family summer vacation.”VirginaTech.Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University. 06 June 2011. Vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2011/06/060611-Pamplin.Yearroundschool.html. 06 March 2017 .
Reily, Lucas. “Why do students get summers off?” Felix Dennis. mental_floss 2016. Mentalfloss.com/article/56901/why-do-students-get-summers. 09 March 2017.
Smink, Jeff. “This Is Your Brain on Summer.” The New York Times. New York Times Company. 27 July 2011. www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/opinion/28mink.html. 20 March 2017.
“Summer learning loss: Do kids miss out?” Connell University. Wordpress. 2017. Evidencebasedliving.human.connell.edu/2013/06/19/summer-learning-loss-do-kids-miss-out/. 15 March 2017.

“The Disadvantages of Extending the School Year.” Seattle Pi. Hearst Seattle Media, LLC. 2017. Education.seattlepi.com/disadvantages-extending-school-year-3741.html. 07 March 2017.