Improving the Quality of Education
The traditional school calendar is nine months in school and three months out. It was put into place when we were an agrarian society and the whole family was needed to work in the fields and to harvest the crops. Children were an important part of the family farm, and this took precedence over a formal education. Now that our society is no longer agrarian, and has not been so for more than a hundred and thirty years, it may be time for a change. We have heard how the United States ranks in comparison to other post-industrial countries in regards to education. One idea that has proven to be successful in improving the education level of students is “year round schooling”. Year round schooling
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The implementation of year round schooling has met with opposition in some areas because of the lack of understanding and availability of information. One of the first misconceptions is that teachers and students would be attending school for the whole year without a break. It has also been said that moving to year round school would cause a breakdown of family relationships and traditions. In addition, the loss of the summer vacation would disrupt normal childhood growth and development. Some groups have argued that with the reduction in the number of summer vacationers, the economy of seasonal communities would be adversely affected. Also, with less high school age students available to work, a shortage of available staff for needed summer positions would leave jobs unfilled.
The change to year round school would take some adjustments by all groups. The teachers, students, and their family members would have to adjust to having multiple vacations that were spread out over the entire year. This would be beneficial to all parties involved, with the breaks spread out the families would be able to plan multiple activities during the different breaks. Unlike with one large summer break, parents and spouses would not be as restricted by work constraints that leave children at home alone with Nintendo and television. Parents would then be able to utilize all of their vacation and holiday time
So why is there such opposition for year-round school? The concerns seem to arise with the idea of taking away summer vacation. Most cite that both the students and the teachers need a break from school. This also the time where many families have vacation. Summer is the time where family spend time together without homework and project due dates looming over the students. This looming inevitably happens during the
This is how the Year-Round School format would work. Students would attend school for a certain amount of days, and then the students would receive a longer break period. This would be repeated all year long. Primarily, the education administration is taking the summer break and splitting it equally throughout the year (nayre.org). The school districts that Year-Round School will help students, yet it may actually hurt them socially. For example, the long summer break provides students with the exciting opportunities such as camps and family vacations. These are learning opportunities that take place outside of the classroom by teaching young children valuable life skills including patience, teamwork, and tolerance (ltisdschools.org ). Also, teenagers may
Also, “without public support, year-round will fail because the parent’s reluctance to send their children” (Gee, 795). Parent reluctance comes from the lack of synchronized time off for vacation. Work schedules do not typically run on a 45/15 plan and without three months break, families lose time for a vacation. If a school decides to go year-round, communication between the community and school would have must be very clear as to when students are supposed to be in school (Wildman et al. 465).
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
This is one reason that we should not have year round school in the United States. Year round schools don't learn any more than the kids in traditional nine month school calendar. The article says,"Students in "year-round" schools don't learn more than their peers in traditional nine-month schools, new research has found." This shows that kids in year round school don't learn any more then kids in the nine month school calendar. If kids don't learn any more than their peers than they shouldn't have to go to year round school. Kids in school deserve to have a summer vacation to hang out with friends and family and to be able to travel.
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.
What do you do during summer break? Do you go on a long family trip, or do you have to get a job? Now imagine if those plans were ruined by year round schooling. Year round schooling is not beneficial for students and teachers because it can cause more stress, students get summer jobs, and people go on family trips and spend time with family and friends during summer break.
The idea of having a year round school schedule has been thought about at the state level throughout the country for many years, especially in the past two decades. The driving idea behind the argument is that if year round school is put into place, there would be an increase in academic performance because students will not forget what they learned so easily. This change of schedule will obviously have a lasting effect on society, with child care, vacations, regular living, and social life would have a major change on every family. Other operations would have a dramatic change if summer vacation would be taken away. Federal and state government, churches, businesses, the school’s community, and public
Have you ever thought about how year-round schooling can be beneficial to students? In today’s society, many school districts have been switching from a standard school year to year-round schooling. Year-round schools follow the basic 180 day school year, but the days are more spread out throughout the year following the 45-15 method. Forty five days of school, followed by fifteen day breaks. Year-round schooling is beneficial to many because it prevents students from gaining unwanted weight and causes less stress for teachers and students.
Do you like the relaxing summer break? Well, if you do, how would you feel about year round school. Year round school has been a topic talked about throughout the whole world. There are many advantages and disadvantages for industries, schools, students, teachers, and even parents. Lots of conflicts occur when changing the school year to year round. It can be unhealthy for everybody including students, parents, and even certain businesses. Year round school can lead to poor things.
Year- round school is growing in popularity around the United States. School years that are considered Year-round do not take the traditional three-month summer break, but instead take multiple breaks throughout the year that vary in length. Year-round school is necessary to today’s education system because it helps prevent summer learning loss for students, teachers do not have to waste time re-teaching old material and lower income families benefit greatly from the adjusted schedule.
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.
Most importantly, students' education and health would benefit. Year-round schooling would allow students to move at their own pace. Students would also be able to retain information more easily because they won't have to remember what they learned over the long summer breaks. Lastly, a students' brain won't have nearly as much strain because students would be learning in a more structured schedule.
“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.
Whether it’s year-round or traditional school they both have drawback, but a year-round schedule would be more devastating than many may think. The negative effects of a year-round schedule are enormous compared to that of a traditional school calendar. “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change” (Quote Garden). Overall the cost would add up, kids would miss quality time with their relatives, and moreover struggle with finding a normal