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Switching to a Year-Round School Calendar Essay

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In the United States, most schools still use a ten-month calendar that was developed when our country’s students needed school off to help with harvesting (Palmer). Trimble Local Schools Superintendent Kim Jones says, “year-round schooling is the notion of getting away from the old agrarian calendar...which was formed up around the planting season. Students were out of school from April until harvest to work in the fields,” (qtd. in Hapka). Under the agrarian system, most United States students are in school for nine to ten months, and get a two- to three- month summer vacation. However, the United States is no longer an agricultural-based society, and students have no need to take a three-month-long, unnecessary, not to mention …show more content…

Wake County, a school using a year-round calendar, teacher Mary Brown says, “Our schedule offers the kids a break from school right when they need it...they didn’t have the bored, glazed-over look of kids who had been in school for weeks on end with no break in sight,” (qtd. in The Pros and Cons). Others argue that it would be inconvenient and difficult for parents to find child care for frequent but short spans of time throughout the year. However, in communities that have already made the transition from the agrarian calendar to the year-round schedule, community programs and centers are adjusting as well. Many promptly begin providing a child-care package priced and structured specific to the school district in which they are located as soon as the transition is made (The Pros and Cons). Another common argument against a countrywide year-round schedule is that some communities would want breaks when others want to be in session. Just because the year-round schooling is countrywide does not mean the entire country has to have the exact same schedule. Each school district would come up with its own schedule specific to the community’s demands and traditions. Students who are from rural Minnesota might want deer hunting season off while students from the concrete jungle of New York City will probably be less likely to make such a request. Ohio State Representative and member of the House

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