What Does It Mean?

The last writing I read was “Free The Children”, a very informative story by author Nancy Gibbs. Gibbs believes that children should enjoy summers that don’t count or place pressure on them. She says that experts have for a long time said that the modern child has more stress than those of earlier generations. I thought that this was an interesting read because I probably would naturally think that preparing my child during the summer, for the upcoming year would give them an advantage. The evidence author Gibbs presents suggests the contrary. She finishes by saying “I wish that I could have that time back to be a youth without the strains of work and school”. I completely agreed with her take.

“The Virtues of Isolation”, written by Brent Crane, states that under the right circumstances being alone can provide significant psychological help. The article stated that scientists often associate isolation with negative outcomes due to it having adverse effects on the minds of children. However, when it is voluntarily pursued, it can be shown to have significant befits—some would even say its therapeutic. That temporarily isolating yourself gives you a chance to take a step back and take a good look at yourself. It alleviates the stress on our everyday lives and lets us relax. That the difference between solitude as therapy and solitude as misery depends on the quality of self-reflection that a person experiences, and the ability to reintegrate into social groups when their ready.

Summer vacation. For most children and teens, the phrase conjures up images of hot, sunny days and vacations with the whole family to far-off places. We all envision lazy afternoons relaxing on the beach, playing in water parks, and going on picnics. But what happens when summer ends and the reality of another year of school sinks in?

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

Board, The Editorial. "Long Summer Break Leaves Kids behind - Portland Press Herald." Press Herald. N.p., 12 July 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2017.

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.

Summer" by Stanley Kunitz, is a poem that relates to everyone going back to school or their job.

The school board is wrong for thinking that fiction and novels don’t have a place in the schools curriculum. There are several reasons for why the school board is wrong about removing fiction because it destroys all chances a student could get like learning about social issues involving discrimination, isolation as well as conflicts involving the ability of power to corrupt everything in a non realistic world. This can be situated by the novel “The House of the Scorpion” by Nancy Farmer who writes about a clone named Matt and how he has to go about being treated differently and how his life has gone. The first reason why the school board is wrong is because of the effects of discrimination. In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it defines discrimination

“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.

In this short artifact “A Tale of Two Summers for Parents” by Belinda Luscombe I was able to get an idea of the different things that parents might be going through that us kids/teens have no idea about. Luscombe shares two stories about the struggles that parents were going through especially during the summer. The summer as we know is the hottest time of the year. For some states summer might just be different but I am aware that climate can be a challenge for some families. Having to change schedules and making sure to know where your children will be spending the day or after school may be your priority and I agree with that. Now a days I see kids walking home when the day is just simply hot. You can’t even go with your car window down because the warmth of the hot air hits you and it makes you so tired and stresses you out so much. No matter how much you try to be fresh the heat just really gets you making you upset and not thinking straight.

In the beginning of the article the author starts off with a question of how one will spend their summer to transition into how some children will either spend their summer-break freely or in school. “Summer is around the corner, and you may already be dreaming about how you’ll spend your break. Will you: (a) go to camp, (b) travel with your family, (c) play Minecraft, or (d) stay in school? Chances are, staying in school” (Kelsey). This in text example shows the introduction of the author’s topic and what the article will tell. Kelsey uses a student as an example for her thesis about how some students have to stay in school year round. The author’s essay addresses the pros and cons of year-round schooling. Lastly, the author concludes the article by asking the reader if he or she would change summer

Anna Quindlen’s essay “school’s out for the summer” Is to persuade their readers to try to help the kids and family over rule the government to help the kids and family that struggling to eat when school is out for the summer.

The poem The Summer I was sixteen describes the summer of a sixteen-year-old American in the nineteen sixties. The writer of the poem, Geraldine Connolly, compares the shortcomings experienced by the United States to a sixteen-year-old summer. The theme of this poem is to remind the audience of childhood and calls for the need to enjoy the good fruits that life has provided.

It was that time of the year again. The excitement of school ending, as days grew longer and warmer. Most children my age looked forward to summer break. Waking up early to watch cartoons with a huge bowl of lucky charms in front of them, or sleeping in late finally feeling refreshed after losing precious hours during the school year. Not me, my summers consisted of rising before the sun did to get the best rows on the strawberry field that was nearly three steps out the back door on my grandparent’s farm. The berries were normally ready for harvest about June 17th, so my brothers and I got a cherished eight days of freedom before the life of berry stained hands and unsightly farmers tans came about.

The never ending days of summer were quickly winding down. It was that time of year again. That time where every kid dreads waking up early every day. Where we have to sit on hard as rock chairs for hours. Eat foods that look and taste like a mixture of foreign cuisines together in a bowl. My fulfilled summer adventures were now just a mere distant memory like that old shirt tucked away at the bottom of a drawer to be never seen again. Now I have to face reality; it was my final year as a high schooler.