Summer Break In High School

Getting rid of summer break would hurt a lot of students; they do not have the patience to go to school during the school year—taking away what is supposed to be their vacation could possibly break them.

One of the reasons Florida should convert to year-round schooling keeps the learning process going. Text 2 states that students “spend less time reviewing material since students don’t forget everything over the summer.” Because there are multiple

During summer, many students forget what they learned the year before, and teachers must review material done last year. People in year-round schools believe that because of the shorter breaks, teachers have to spend less time reviewing material, and can move forward in their teaching. According to the National Education Association, “one of the main reasons for switching to year-round schools is to improve with student academics.” Although there is no proof, many schools believe a year-round schedule helps improve students academic skills.

Summer break is supposed to be a time of rest and rejuvenation for students. After nine months of hard work and challenging classes, one would think such a long break could do nothing but good for students; however, this is not the best way for young minds to learn. A three month break is far too long for children to go without proper education and supervision. Instead of a long three month break at the end of each school year, why not give students the same number of days off but spread them out more frequently throughout the year? Year-round education is a more efficient, globally competitive, and fair alternative to the traditional nine month school year.

A large portion of the knowledge gained during the last school year is lost over the long idle months and must be retaught for weeks, which wastes a lot of time that could be spent learning new material. This puts students behind in that year’s curriculum, and over many summers, can add up to students being months or years behind where they would be if no learning was lost. There is a solution to this

As a child becomes a teenager they go from knowing right from wrong to having the ability to do more things without parental supervision. This kind of freedom without having someone to monitor your actions can lead to these young people doing things they

This means that students and teachers are less tired than usual. According to Text 2, “[t]eachers and students at year-round schools experience less burnout and they spend less time reviewing material since students don’t forget everything over the summer.” In other words, teachers and students are less tired, and more poised. They also have to review less because they don’t forget as much (National Education Association 6).

The average school period is one hundred and eighty days with small breaks in between and a three-month break during summer to ease students’ minds and let them relax. The Board of Education should make all schools in the United States year-round to increase educational time and decrease the loss of knowledge over the breaks. It gives students the same time to relax and plan family vacations periodically throughout the year, but never creates the stress of changing sleep schedules that summer break changes. Not only is it a good way to enhance education, but it also is better for planning family events, positive effects on budget, academic achievement, and could decrease the absence rate of students.

In his article “Go Year-Round: A Push for True Summer School”, Milton Chen, the executive director of Edutopia, urges readers to use the year-round schooling system. He explains in brief words what the summer vacation was for. “…when farm families needed young people home during the summer months to replace the three R's with the two P's -- plantin' and pickin' " (Chen). He carries on discussing that the problem with the school days is not only the amount, but the schedule of the school day. The curriculum is too tight; neither the students nor the teachers have the time to step away from the books and text and learn from the outside. The students do not have the chance to go into the outside world and observe what is going on in the society that they live in. Additionally, the teachers do not have the chance to decide how their time is spent because it is spent on the strict schedule of the classroom.

Year-round schooling is characterized by its 45-90 day periods of instruction (varying with different multitrack systems) separated by 15-30 day breaks (varying with different multitrack systems) (California Department of Education). There is no current scientific evidence to show that year-round education lessens the amount of material forgotten during the summer (McMillen 68); in fact, this memory loss is maximized as it occurs more frequently as it accompanies the shorter, habitual breaks. Constant breaks can also multiply some of summer’s negative effects. One common issue associated with summer is students’ loss of focus as summer approaches and trouble becoming accustomed to the beginning of the following school year (Worsnop 439). This would be a, though minimized, a recurring difficulty with constant breaks. Furthermore, teachers

Can you imagine going to an all year round –school? It must be horrible. You would have to go to school all year with short breaks in-between quarters. You couldn’t go on vacation, you couldn’t do activities, and summer is for family memories and its tradition. So why would we change tradition to go to school all year. Here are reasons why we shouldn’t apply to an all year round –schools.

There are numerous reasons for teachers to take a break from teaching in the summer months. “Summers off has long been the light at the end of the tunnel for teachers, particularly in urban areas with higher discipline problems and overcrowded classrooms” (Lynch). This was stated regarding the traditional school system. In a year-round setting however, the lengthy breaks are replaced with shorter and frequent breaks. Though the loss of those summer months may at first seem like a downside, many teachers end up liking more time off. Teachers simply need the summer time break to “recharge their batteries” from a busy, overwhelming, and time consuming year. An unmotivated, drained teacher has a direct negative effect on the young students in his or her classroom.

Have you ever wondered why teachers take a whole month to review everything from the previous year or why students tend to forget everything? Every year, students are keeping their calendars at hand and counting down the days until summer vacation. It’s the last day of school and when the final bell rings, kids are ready to do nothing for three months. However, is this really a good thing? The possibility of having year-round schools is at hot debate topic right now and it is time for change from traditional calendar schools. Schools should incorporate a system where schooling is year-round instead of having a long summer break because this allows for more learning and would prevent the problem of students forgetting everything they’ve

“But that sort of summer has given way to something more difficult, even darker, that makes you wonder whether year-round school is not a notion whose time has come.” Most students are very eager towards the end the school year to be free from the “prison” that holds them from August until May. Students want to be relieved from all of the built up stress from throughout the year and they want to be able to do what they want without having to worry if their homework is done or if they are prepared for the test the following day. However, many children and their families rely on school for one very overlooked reason that is addressed in Anna Quindlen’s essay, “School’s Out for Summer.” In it, Quindlen discusses a problem that many don’t even realize exists: a lack of ability to feed children at home. Many Americans rely on the school to feed their children because the parents can not. This is a problem that many people do not realize exists, and it is a problem that can be fixed.

Most teachers have most likely heard “I don’t want to be at school” or “I can’t wait for summer.” Toward the end of the school year, teachers become agitated and students put in less effort on their work. To fix this problem, schools should resort to year-round schooling. “Flexible twelve-month patterns can be tailored to fit the personal needs and preferences of each family unit by permitting vacation and other non-school activities to be planned throughout the year” (Glines). During their time of break, students will be able to use the time to collect themselves and become more relaxed. Also, this gives students time to plan activities or