Ever since the early nineteenth century, American students have enjoyed a lengthy three-month vacation from learning every summer. This allows them to work, travel, and spend time with family. Most importantly, it allows them to sit back and relax after a long nine months of taking tests, writing papers, and stressing out about grades. However, despite all of the good things that come from it, summer break may be hurting students more than it is helping them. Recent studies indicate that students lose a significant amount of information over the summer due to inactivity of the brain, and that the loss increases as the income of students’ families decreases. This phenomenon is referred to as the achievement gap. Multiple solutions to this problem, …show more content…
Many people who object to the idea do so because they see summer vacation as an involatile student right. Like high school football or senior prom, summer break is an American tradition that has been around for decades and most students would be saddened to see it go (Gladwell, 255). There are also a few issues that could arise if the United States were to implement the balanced calendar. For one thing, summer sports, camps, and programs would need to be discontinued or become after-school activities, which could become stressful for students. Because of the way that the multi-track model is set up, there would always be students in school, which would make it difficult to plan family and non school-related events. Additionally, many high school and college students rely on the money that they earn from working summer jobs to pay for their education and other expenses. Although these may seem like major problems, they would actually have a very minimal effect on students. Scheduling more events and activities in the evenings would not significantly increase the stress levels of students because they would be learning material at a faster rate due to the fact that less time would be wasted on review and, as a result, they would not need to complete as much homework and would have more free time after school (Ballinger, 6). Teachers could further reduce the amount of homework assigned on days when school is in session by giving students assignments to complete over breaks. This would also allow students after-school time to work throughout the year instead of just during the summer, and students could work full-time during their weeks off of school. Although these changes may makes students’ day to day schedules busier and more complex, the benefits of the balanced calendar far outweigh the
As I wearily sat in my seat, writing an essay on the importance of electricity in the modern world, I caught myself glancing repeatedly at the clock that was so carefully perched above the teacher’s desk. “Ten minutes, only ten more minutes left until school is over and I get to go home!” I told myself. In most schools, the average school day is about eight hours long. Eight hours of continuously sitting in a chair taking notes during lectures, doing classwork, projects, etc. During these eight hours of school, students deserve a short, outdoor break in which they can isolate themselves from the stress of working all day and just relax. Studies have shown that people who take short breaks throughout the day to do light, outdoor breaks are more productive than those who do not. A short, outdoor break will benefit students due to the fact that students will have time to relax; students will be able to focus more, concentrate, and be more productive; and teachers will have more time to prepare for the next class coming.
79% of American middle school and high school students take part regularly in at least one after-school extracurricular activity. Many students participate in sports that can take up to 4 hours of their time, daily. Homework takes time to do after school and extracurriculars. If a student goes to school at 9:00 and gets out at 4:00, then goes to an after-school activity from 4:00 to 6:00, they will come home and have dinner from about 6:30 to 7:15, which means that they will probably start homework at around 7:30. This means that high school students will be up until about 11:00 finishing their homework, that’s without factoring in how much time the students will waste.
In the United States, most schools still use a ten-month calendar that was developed when our country’s students needed school off to help with harvesting (Palmer). Trimble Local Schools Superintendent Kim Jones says, “year-round schooling is the notion of getting away from the old agrarian calendar...which was formed up around the planting season. Students were out of school from April until harvest to work in the fields,” (qtd. in Hapka). Under the agrarian system, most United States students are in school for nine to ten months, and get a two- to three- month summer vacation. However, the United States is no longer an agricultural-based society, and students have no need to take a three-month-long, unnecessary, not to mention disruptive break during the summer months; instead, the United States should switch the school systems to a year-round calendar.
Anne. A. “Balanced School Calendars: Pros and Cons.” June 2010. Vancouver Board of the education of the students. Web.
Students may need to nap to compensate for energy expended throughout the day. However, if schools were to start later, adolescents would not have to nap, allowing for a larger window of time to spend with their families after school, even with a later start time. Another opposing argument is that students would have less time to participate in extracurricular activities. However, this issue can be resolved by making practices for sports and club meetings shorter and more frequent to accommodate the schedule variation. Overall, the benefits of later start times far outweigh the drawbacks.
Summer is a time where people have gatherings, goof around, take vacations and spend time with their family. Many students are used to having two week winter break, one week spring break, and three months of summer break. Changing this traditional format could lead to negative effects for many students, educators,and families. A balanced school year would not have enough benefits to change schedule.
One drawback to later start times is the fact that school would end later. Since schools that start later still have the same number of hours in a day, they would in turn end later in the afternoon. This can cause problems for after school activities, and also homework after school. Some students families depend on the money earned from working after school jobs. If the school they were attending got out later, they would have less time after school to work these jobs, so they would be unable to make the money they need to support their families (“Eight Major Obstacles to Delaying School Start Times”). In addition, any after school clubs or activities would end later after school, causing those involved to stay up later at
Relaxation could improve a students ability to think and therefore enhance their chance of excelling at their academics. According to an Indiana school,"Having one weekday off of school each week allows more flexibility for teachers and students." Students have an extra day to make sure that they do all their studies and still get extra time to do extra curricular activities. This also prevents homework and studying excuses students might make as a result of lack of time and abundant amount of homework. A five day week of school gives students a hard time as they have to adjust both activities and studies in 2 days. As a result of a five day school week students get less time to spend with their families, but with a four day school week they could spend more with family and still have everything finished and be prepared. Concluding from these chain of events, an implementation of a four day school week will result in a students academic growth.
Silva, Elena. "Revising the Current School Calendar Has Many Implications." Year-Round Schools. Ed. Adriane Ruggiero. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. At Issue. Rpt. from "On the Clock: Rethinking the Way Schools Use Time." Education Sector Reports. 2007. 1-9. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 May 2014.
“The U.S. research challenges one of the main arguments for abandoning conventional schedules: year- round schooling improves achievement because it prevents students from falling behind during the summer and because it does not waste precious time reviewing past years’ lessons” (Mahoney). So even though year-round school is a different way of providing the schedule from traditional schools, it does benefit students by having shorter
The traditional School schedule is set up so students go to school for 9 months and then have a 3-month summer Vacation. This system dates back to a time when most people's lively hood was farming; therefore, the educational schedule was built around the times of harvest and planting. But in modern day, with so little farmers this schedule is severely out dated. The long break in the summer encourages students to forget knowledge that they learned that previous year, forcing teachers to review information for 4-6 weeks, time that could be well used teaching students new and enriching things. This schedule also isn't very cost effective, for three months schools stand empty and unused, which is ridicules due to how over crowded the educational system is. Does it really make sense to use an outdated schedule when with every other aspect of our lives we want the newest and the best?
There are many opinions and studies about reforming school days. Some people are concerned that longer school days would bring more difficulties. However, there are numerous studies and practical examples that prove that we improve students’ performance by lengthening school days. Finally, the economy and our society will benefit from expanding school days.
Most children attend school for about 6.5 hours per day. Some people argue that this is not enough time for children to master key concepts, while others say that children spend too much time in school and on homework, which leaves them little time for family or fun activities. “There are many benefits to year-round schooling—including consistency, less time spent relearning material, and the implications that year-round schooling has for closing the achievement gap” (Lynch, 2016, par. 1). The adage of the adage. Currently, more than 700 schools have extended their day.
Students today are often over-scheduled to the point where they are too stressed out to enjoy the experience of life. Having a full calendar can lead to behavioral changes in students as well mostly due to overscheduling. Students often live in such a fast-paced lifestyle that they become impulsive, impatient, and self-entitled. Parents are frequently found to be the reason for most of their children’s busy schedules. Parents often want the most for their children and end up giving them a busy schedule like their own, so they too can be successful later in life.