Year Round School Essay

Year-round schools have gained popularity among the United States, being a very communicated topic within middle class communities. These schools are generally argued about by whether they are beneficial or not. While there are many advantages to year-round schools, there are some disadvantages as well. A few of these disadvantages include the expenses of the schools, the schedules the schools provide, the involvement within the schools, and the actual effectiveness of these schools.

The possibility of year round schools has been a hot debate topic for quite some time. The question is, is the idea of year round schools acceptable considering all the potential drawbacks? Year round schooling can be disruptive to both the family of the students and the teachers themselves, it can be too costly for a large group of people, and year round schools do not provide the same opportunity for learning as the traditional school year does. For several reasons, the traditional school year, which runs for ten months instead of eleven, is more beneficial in comparison to year round schooling.

Imagine a school year that never ends. A year without summer, relaxation, and vacations with family. Summer is the time of year that every student cannot wait arrive. But what if the playful time filled with friends, smiles, and laughter did not exist? What if school remained in session year-round? This is happening in 3,181 schools across America and is gradually increasing (edweek.org). The government calls it: Year-Round School. There are both many pros and cons to this controversial issue in today’s education; however, Year-Round School is not a good decision because of the social outcomes, the financial costs, and the academic effects that Year-Round School burdens on the 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.

Industries such as business and medicine depend on extreme methods and forward thinking ideas. To be a successful enterprise, one must be willing to take risks and try new things. Within the last century, education has attempted to take a leap of faith by completely flipping the traditional school schedule and idea of summer vacation upside down. Just as with any idea, there are advantages and disadvantages as well as supporters and opponents. Each district must look at their own individual needs and evaluate the trials from schools that have gone before them to decide if year-round schooling would benefit their school.

Does year round school truly have a positive impact in the lives of students? Various studies do suggest that year round school is helpful. There are some disadvantages to this type of schooling that are preventing all schools from switching to this type of scheduling. In earlier times schools were only teaching throughout half of the year so that school would be out of session when it was time to work in the fields. This type of scheduling is still common today even though only a small portion of agriculture is tied into education and kids are no longer required to work. “In 1994, the National Education Commission on Time and Learning (1994) urged school districts to develop school calendars that acknowledged (a) differences in student learning and (b) the major changes taking place in American society. The report reflected growing concern about how the school calendar relates to students at risk for academic failure” (Cooper, Nye, Charlton, James, & Greathouse). As a result. many are fighting for year-round school. Year-round school has proven to be beneficial in the lives of students and has lead to greater success in the classroom. Although, there are some downfalls to year-round schooling.

How would the population react if the schedule that structures many peoples’ entire year were to change? This change is a reality for a growing number of families across the country as a method of improving primary and secondary education through year-round school. Although many have come to accept or even embrace year-round school in an effort to help students retain more material, year-round school would actually disrupt the learning environment, be potentially detrimental for students and their family’s financial health, as well as that of the schools, and could take away from family and personal time.

“It’s for the public it’s year round and it 's also for the schools because we 're going to re-establish our school programs and all our outreach programs” Susan Hayward. Will year round schooling help or benefit the schools of the United States and society? Year round schools could change the reasons why teachers are teaching ("Top 10 Reasons"). Elimination of extended breaks from schools in the United States. would be beneficial to the population.

Consider the following situation: A car is driving past the local elementary school on a hot and sunny July afternoon. As the car approached the school the driver notices some unusual things. Students are outside with the teachers for recess, and it looks as if school is in session. The school is on a year-round schedule. The driver is intrigued and decides to do some research. From the research, this person found that students are achieving more academically and the teachers are well rested.

Also many parents work and have kids, so if they are working and there is no school for 2 weeks it can be hard to find babysitters to watch their children. Many teens also like to get jobs over the summer. The teens will not be able to do that because there won’t be a summer break. In text 2 paragraph 5 it says, “ Some critics, however, note that extracurricular activities, like sports and band, may be more difficult under year-round schedule.” It would be hard because if all schools aren't doing the year-round schooling. Also, it would be difficult because it would be hard to get in competitions, plays, and games. (However) year round (schooling does) affect schedules, that isn't’ the main reason why there shouldn’t be year round schooling. The main reason why is because, it rushes into a new school year. After just a week of school ending, it starts right back up again. That gives people no time to get school supplies and it gives zero time for teacher to finalize grades,get their room ready, get school supplies for their own children ,etc. Also, teachers can’t (arrange) a new school year in a week. In text 2 it states, “Finalizing grades and report cards may take place while school is still in session,

”Bye students. Have a great summer,” the teacher yells over the bell. Happiness and joy fills the classrooms as everyone leaves the room talking about their summer plans with their friends and family.This is the way it should be,but what if all that was taken away just like that? and the joy of summer vacation suddenly disappeared? All you had planned to have with the people you were closest with. How would you feel if all of that was gone? That's why we shouldn't have year-round schooling, because it complicates schedules, add to costs, and with year round schooling

Many people, including President Barack Obama believe that year round schooling is the best option for American students, because the year round system gives students equal amount of time in school, while increasing the efficiency of a single school building (Ave 1B). “More than two million students in some three thousand U.S. schools attend year round programs in 41 states” (Lawson 48). This astonishing number seems large, but really is only 2% of students in the United States. Many of the perceived advantages of year round schooling revolve around cost and learning efficiency, but in reality the traditional system gives essentially equal

One of the most documented reasons for switching to a year round school is what’s known as the “summer slide.” Students leave spring semester after taking their exams and don’t think about school for almost 12 weeks. These students then come back in the fall not only failing at subjects they knew three months prior, but in dire need of having the foundations re taught to them. This forces teachers to spend valuable class time re-teaching lessons, which dips into class time that should be used for grade appropriate lessons. In her article, O’Sulivan theorizes, “the less times students are away from school, the less time teachers will have to spend reviewing material from the previous year and acclimating students to classroom rules and procedures”.

To begin with, year round schools cost to much. In the essay the author states that a high school in Arizona had a cost increase of 157,000 when they switched to year-round schooling! Now that is a lot of money going out the window. If you would just stick with how it's always been we would not have this problem. This way is so much better and cheaper for the students and the school.

Year round school affects a lot of people for many reasons. In the text it said that “most families plan vacations over the summer. Year-round schools restrict summer family vacations. They also don't allow students to go away to camp or take on summer jobs to earn money for the future.” This means that families usually will go on vacation in the summertime when it is warm out but year round schools are going to school at that time so they can’t go on a nice vacation. Also in the summer, kids sometimes do lemonade stands to earn money for their future but kids that go to year round schools can’t do that because they are stuck in school in the summer. Another piece of evidence from the text is that “too many breaks disrupt learning. The breaks