K-12 Education
Education has been the pathway to a better life for many years now. It is full of opportunity for many Americans. Education is not for every child but it is necessary in the early part of kids’ lives to learn the important things. Thanks to our government, we have public education in which we have free kindergarten through 12th grade. Public education is paid by through our taxes. Because of this, the government runs the schools and that can cause some problems. There will always be room for improvement in the public education system. I think the biggest thing we can do to improve K-12 schooling right now, is to go to a year round school year schedule.
Year round schooling sounds rigorous, but in fact it is just a change in schedule. The traditional school year was made with farming families in mind when the families needed their children to help with the crops in the summer. That is why the traditional school year has a three month period where kids are not in school over the summer. In today’s modern world, that does not make any sense because now a days, big huge machines take care of the farms and crops. Also, our economy does not depend on the crops and farms like it did back in the 20th century. The year round school year would still require the same amount of school days as the traditional school year, which is 180 days in the classroom. But instead of a prolonged summer break, it would have a 45-15 plan. 45 days in school and 15 days out of it, which translates to nine weeks in school and three weeks off. The breaks would include three weeks off in fall, winter, spring, and summer. These breaks would be in nine week intervals.
One benefit of the year round schooling is that there can be an overlap of s...
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.../benefits-of-year-round-k12-grades-schools?id=1393 , EduGuideStaff, Benefits of Year-Round K-12 Grade Schools, 2014
http://www.teachhub.com/should-american-schools-go-year-round , Singhu Nair, Should American Schools Go Year Round?, 2014.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/year-round-schooling-how_b_4622211.html , Matthew Lynch, Year Round Schooling: How it Affects Students, 2014.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/debate-over-yearround-ver_n_1668482.html , Beth J. Harpaz, Year Round and Traditional Schools Elicit Debate, 2014.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/year-round-schooling-how_b_4646026.html , Matthew Lynch, Year Round Schooling: How it Affects the Economy, 2014.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/year-round-schooling-how_b_4631645.html , Matthew Lynch, Year Round Schooling: How it Affects Teachers, 2014.
adaptations need to be made back to the year-round school. If society has continuously adapted
One of the most talked about issues of schooling today, would be year round schooling. The program started as a new way to learn. The old way and still the way most schools calendar is set up was designed the way it is due to harvest times, when the United States was a farming country. There have been many studies done, and some schools have already implemented this program. The studies and the schools that have gone ahead and implemented the program have seen both good things and bad things in their findings. There will be both pros and cons for every issue, and some may see pros and cons differently. Year round schooling is the idea of attending school for an entire year, not all 365 days, but continuously throughout the year. Year round schooling operates on a different schedule to incorporate the same amount of classroom time as a typical school schedule has. The only difference is that the breaks are shorter, but there are more of them in year round schooling. This is the basis of most of the arguments for and against year round schooling.
The phrase “year-round” scares students and parents alike. Some argue that students attending school year-round will get so burnt out that the new schedule would be counterproductive. However, the term “year-round” is misleading. Students would not go to school non-stop twelve months out of the year. Instead, students would attend in blocks separated by short but frequent breaks (Hapka). The National Education Association gives insight to the block system:
While growing up, I attended a traditional school. This is a schooling method many individuals are probably familiar with. A student attends school for nine months out of the year, and then has a three month break during the summer. However, in my immediate hometown surroundings, nearby traditional schools are assessing the idea of transforming into year-round schools. Year round schooling is one subject debated in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools nationwide. Are schools that operate 365 days a year academically better than traditional schools? What are the cost differences between the two? How would a year-round school effect families? Changing the schooling technique from traditional to year-round has numerous variables that need to be taken into consideration before any grade school or secondary education institution fully commits. Year-round schooling schedules should not be implemented and traditional schooling calendars should be maintained.
Back in the olden days, schools were originally put on a schedule in which students would spend the majority of the year in school, and 2-3 months off for summer break. The purpose of this was so that children could be home for the summer to help their parents run family farms. Today, due to progressive industrialization of farming, modernized farming equipment, and decrease in family farms, the need for children to be home during the summer to help run family farms is minute if not obsolete; because of this many schools across the United States have transitioned to year-round schooling (“Summer”). Contrary to belief, year round schooling does not usually mean more school days. Currently most year-round schools adhere to the 180 day school year. Instead of the traditional lengthy summer vacation, year-round schools distribute the 180 days throughout the entire year while allowing for shorter breaks. Common scheduling for year-round schools includes cycles of 2-3 months in school followed by 2-3 week breaks (“Research Spotlight...
Year round school or the modified school year is a rearrangement of the traditional school year to provide the students with continuous learning throughout the school year. Students receive the same amount of instructional time as a traditional school. In year round schools, the instructional time is balanced without of school time more evenly. (Winter, 2005) The National Association for Year Round Schooling defines it as “a schedule which contains no break lasting longer than eight weeks-schools are able to keep their students in constant learning mode, and are able to use the intersessions between periods of schooling to address the problems of students who are falling behind.” (St. Gerard, 2007, pg. 57) There are three common tracks of year round schooling. They are the single track, multitrack, and extended year. The single track is scheduled throughput the year into intersessions which allow time for enrichment or red-mediation. The multitrack is used to help schools reduce overcrowding. The school divides the teachers and students into groups of an equal size. Each group has its own schedule. One group is on intercession while the other is in school. The extended year increases the amount of time spent in schools from 180 days to as many as 240 days a year. (McGlynn, 2002)
Education has always been in existence in one form or another. As each child is born into this world regardless of who or where they are born, life lessons immediately begin. He/she will learn to crawl, walk, and talk by the example and encouragement of others. Although these lessons are basic in the beginning they evolve as the child grows. However, the core learning method of a child does not change. Learning from others, they will watch, listen, and then act for themselves. Thomas Jefferson believed that an education would lead men and women to the ability to be self-governed and become positive contributors to society (Mondale & Patton, 2001). Today, we can see how true this is by the examples of others. Those that are given the opportunity for education are more likely to find jobs and develop skills that not only improve a community, but influence the economic growth of their nation (Ravitch, Cortese, West, Carmichael, Andere, & Munson, 2009, p. 13). On the other hand, if an education is not provided to individuals, they can become a hindrance to that nation’s growth.
Throughout time education has been considered a process that every so often must be improved. The education quality in the U.S. has declined over the years and people have been looking for a way to make improvements. A more recent proposal has been to go from a traditional nine-month schedule to an all year program. Supporters of year round school claim it gives the student a better education. However, the prospect of year round school is not beneficial to the taxpayers pocket, to the education a student receives, or to the people involved with the district.
In conclusion, it is a bad idea to have year round schooling, as you can see there are many disagrees on year round schooling. We shouldn't have school year round because that takes away our time and it messes with our regional routine. Therefore we would have to change everything as in our plans just to be in year round
One of the first concerns of a student when they think of year-round school is that they will be attending school five days a week, 52 weeks a year. That thought is incorrect. The year-round school schedule is still based on 180 days, which is the same amount as the traditional school year. The big difference between the two different systems is that the year-round school year have breaks that are more spread out throughout the year. Instead of have a long three month summer break from school, the year-round schools give a one month summer break. Although the summer break is shorter, the system allows the school to have longer breaks during the school year. One example of a year-round school schedule is from Balanced Calendar; the children would attend school for nine weeks, and then receive a 15 day break. These two week breaks that happen periodically throughout the year allow the children to relax, and not think about homew...
Would you consider going to a school where you learn year-round? Maybe this would be your ideal school, but, when would you get to have some time to go to summer camp, or get a summer job, or play a sport with games during the day? Schools with the traditional schedule may actually be a better choice, and not just because kids love summer break. Schools should have a traditional school year schedule instead of a year round schedule because there isn’t a significant difference between the students’ performance, and year round schedules make planning family vacations hard, make the teachers’ job more difficult, and are more expensive. Also, having a summer break allows kids to participate in activities that they would not be able to do on a year round schedule due to the shorter breaks.
To have year round schooling it much more expensive than a regular school year, to have school year round it, can cost “up to $1,300 more per student.” Also, most students in high school have a summertime job for those three months. But, if schooling was year round teens wouldn't be able to work in the summer. So the amount of times teens can work would decrease. In addition, kids would be much busier with school year around because of all the work and less free time to do whatever. For instance, kids with a lot of homework, projects and other things from school wouldn’t allow them to do things they like in their free time. For example, kids wouldn't be able to hang out with friends, family, play travel sports, or go on vacations because of the lack of free time they would get with school year
Education is the backbone of most nations. Proper teaching to students ensure things such as better technology, better fund distributions, running operations like businesses, military training, and the government. Sadly, our nation is very low on the ladder when it comes to education. Students First has pointed out that most children are reading below their grade level, are respectively the 20th and 27th best nation when it comes to Math and Science, and there is no signifigant change. Americans are however getting an education, though lower than against other nations America still are able to make a living with their lives. There is much needed improvement, but at least Americans are not completely ignorant. Citizens can make a living with their lives and though not as intelligent as someone from Korea or Japan there is no way to dispute that our education system is doing
Education is essential for everyone. Education plays a critical role in the development of a generation of individuals that is virtuous and in turn contributes to the development of good people. Through education, a person is able to develop mentally, but also physically and socially. To the youths, education is important as it helps them to develop the principles of life, enables them to make the correct career decisions and also prepares them in the pursuit of the goals that they may have set for themselves in life. I strongly believe that a good, heck, or even a regular education is a right that cannot be taken away. Education is a right and not a privilege.
Education is a vital part of society. It serves the beneficial purpose of educating our children and getting them ready to be productive adults in today's society. But, the social institution of education is not without its problems. Continual efforts to modify and improve the system need to be made, if we are to reap the highest benefits that education has to offer to our children and our society as a whole.