Year-Round School or Summer Breaks

Throughout the United States, the minimum length of the school year for students is about 180 days. The country has a five-day educational system (Monday through Friday) with the school day, which consists of 5-7 lessons and a short break for lunch. Individual states have the right to organize and regulate the length of school terms. Therefore, the organization of the school year can vary significantly from state to state. Nevertheless, in most states, there is a traditional school year, which begins in September and ends in June. The year consists of three 12-week semesters with two or more week vacation at Christmas and spring. The duration of the summer holidays varies from 10 to 11 weeks. Usually, in the middle of the semester, vacation does not happen, except national holidays. Some systems also have a volunteer summer school.

In some states, there are year-round schools. Such schools work for 12 months instead of 10 traditional. Year-round school requires students to attend school 180 days with distributed holidays throughout the year. The study of the pros and cons of regular schools and year-round schools is essential for creating the best schedule for students.

Students of year-round school attend school 45 days (9 school weeks) and then have 15 days of vacation (3 school weeks). They may also have week winter and spring holidays with additional 9 days off on national holidays. The year-round and traditional schools are characterized by particular advantages and disadvantages, which have strong influence not only on children, but also on teachers and parents.

Despite the fact that the idea of sending children to year-round schools makes many parents crumple, there are particular advantages of year-round schools. Parents are scared of learning without summer vacation and have doubts about the value of year-round schedule, which provides short breaks. However, the main positive side of year-round school deals with business perspectives. Usually, students try to find jobs on their vacations. Thus, it is easier for businesses to provide job during the year, instead of taking students in the summer. Moreover, year-round schools give students possibility to graduate at different seasons, what contributes to decreasing unemployment rate, in contrast with usual school, which allows students to graduate together. Year-round school provides another advantage for businesses. It deals with the vacation of the employees, who try to take the same time in order to spend it with the children.

Year-round school helps to avoid the issue of overcrowding. As the population is rising every day, the problem of overcrowding becomes an important in the field of education. The schedules of year-round schools allow dividing students into groups. Thus, every group has a different schedule and attends school at a particular time. Another advantage is the possibility to reduce the class size and provide more attention to each student separately.

Year-round schedule has a positive impact on the learning activities. The attitude of the students, who attend year-round school, significantly increases, because they spend more time on such schedule. The calendar of year-round school is considered to be more balanced than typical one. Students, who attend typical school, do worse than their peers from year-round school. There is no opportunity to forget the material that students have learned. The teachers do not have to spend much time for reviewing things after summer vacation.

The breaks, which are provided in year-round school, are important for students, who are at risk. They include children with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minority. Frequent and short breaks of year-round school give more time for receiving particular help, such as tutoring, enrichment and remedial courses.

Year-round schools provide many advantages for parents and teachers. Families have more opportunities for arranging their vacations. Moreover, such schedule can contribute to saving money due to the possibility of having a vacation during off-peak period. Teachers have the chance to increase the income due to teaching of class on the vacations. Year-round schools provide more flexible contracts for teachers.

Despite the belief that summer vacation is the best time for children, there are many opponents of summer holidays, who believe that vacation increases the social gap between children. While children of middle and upper social class go to sports camps or travel, poor children stay at home because of the lack of another option. Thus, the summer becomes a period of inactivity, isolation and boredom for many children. They spend time using computers, mobile devices and TVs.

Another disadvantage of the year-round school deals with rural perspective. There are many opponents of year-round school, especially among those, who deal with agriculture. Their claims deal with the fact that children have to visit school during summer, which is the best time for farm work. As the livelihood of many families somehow depends on children’s possibility to help on the farm, parents argue against year-round classes. Another problem deals with large families. The conflict arises due to the different schedules of children. Parents are not able to plan time of the holidays together.

One more argument against year-round school also deals with the costs. In order to provide year-round classes, the maintenance and operating costs should be increased. Moreover, because of difficult economic conditions, many students seek part-time or summer job during the vacation. Year-round school creates a number of difficulties for earning money.

Another problem consists in the fact that students, who attend year-round school, could be distracted by friends, who are on the summer vacation. This will surely affect students’ grades. For a whole quarter, students are looking forward to the fall, spring or winter vacations. Summer vacation for students is a special time. It is necessary for children and parents to make a plan for the summer holidays for the benefit of mind and health. The most important thing is to take care of everything in advance. Children should remember that a period of rest from school should not become a period of complete laziness and carelessness.

The traditional school is considered to have more positive effects on children and their parents. Therefore, many parents and students argue against year-round school. Year-round schools have the negative impact on the summer vacations of the families, as there is no free time for it. Almost every family is planning summer holidays throughout the year. People used to visit relatives, relax, travel, etc. If all schools used year-round learning schedule, there would be no need of summer camps. Thus, they would cease to exist.

Summer holidays are necessary to restore physical and emotional strength. Otherwise, students will not cope with stress during the school hours. However, this time is not just for fun. The perfect idea for holidays for the parents is to engage in the development of their children, for example, to develop reading speed and memory. In summer, children have to read regularly and master home reading program. It is not just exercises for the mind and the practical benefits, but also the best prevention of computer addiction. Reading can develop creative thinking and emotional intelligence, because reader empathizes with the book characters. Young reader does not get ready images from the book but develops his/her own. A good book usually leaves lasting impression, so the child comes up with a sequel, begins to fantasize about his/her own future, and thinks about the behavior in the different scenarios. Books give children a lot more freedom than TV or computer, but first it is necessary to understand it. The summer is the best time to do this. The child reads at a pace that matches his/her biorhythms. The reader pays enough time to reading, because he/she has not much homework to do.

Moreover, many language schools offer children not only foreign language courses, but also a number of interesting and exciting classes during summer holidays. Such trainings do not become stress for children. Quality education is a good foundation for a future career. Elite institutions and pensions offer their services and good material basis during school holidays. Getting into the team, the child can easily make friends who will help him/her to learn linguistic realities and practice the language.

The rest during summer holidays is essential for little children. Children of primary school need the proper rest, because they are not used to such a load. For them, the holidays are essential. For children of secondary school age, parents can organize a trip to the camp, where they can communicate with their peers. Besides, now there are many educational camps and camps with a sports bias, where children will not only entertain, but will obtain useful skills.

Finally, the year-round schools change people’s summer schedule. The life becomes more stressful and there is no time for fun. Therefore, despite all the advantages of year-round school, the traditional schedule is better due to the fact that it does not interrupt habitual lifestyle of students, parents and teachers. Undoubtedly, there are many pros and cons of switching from traditional school to year-round scheduling. This decision should be weighted and all the details should be taken into account in order to provide each district and school with the opportunity to take the right decision of school scheduling, which will have positive benefits for both teachers and students. Providing of any changes to school schedule should be based on the common needs of the students