Year-Round Schooling

Year-round school presents a very controversial issue that school districts struggle with every year. The same arguments, facts, and statistics are presented annually, and somehow a conclusion is never reached. Many people believe that year-round school would be a step in the right direction. Although there are many positive innovations to year-round school, the advantages do not outweigh the disadvantages of cost, breaks, vacations, employment, and scheduling. The traditional school calendar as been the same since the 1800s. This calendar is the traditional 180-day system with a two month break for summer. It was not operated on the year-round system way back when because farmers needed their children in the summertime to help tend the farms. Many people believe that this traditional style should change because it is outdated, but why should we change the schedule that our ancestors made if it still works without any flaws? Year-round school operates on a 180-day system, the same as the traditional calendar. The main difference between the two systems is the amount of time on break. There are many forms of the year-round calendar, as each individual school district may choose whichever plan they believe will fit their schools the best. The most popular examples of these schedules include: 45-15, 60-20, and 90-30 (Kelly). These represent the number of days attending school to the number of days off. These schedules would repeat over and over year-round, so the students would only get small breaks periodically throughout the year. Although these periodic breaks would add up to the same amount of days students would get off during a summer break, research says it would not help the academic achievement of the students. In other words, it is not how long the kids are in the classroom, it is how engaged in learning they are while there are there (Morin). Another example of why year-round schooling would not be a good idea is because it would separate American families that are used to traditional summer vacations. Families have always been accustomed to planning summer activities like vacations, reunions, and summer camps. If students were in school for the greater part of the summer, it would make it very difficult for families to plan these activities and typical childhood memories would get lost in the shuffle of year-round school. It is very important for children's development to spend quality time with family and friends and with year-round schooling, this simply would not happen. Not only would it make hurt your average family during the summer, it would also hurt the school's employees. Year-round school would put more demand on school staff such as cafeteria, custodial and maintenance services because they would have to make special accommodations for events such as graduation and dances. Also, teachers who would usually continue their own educational careers during the summertime would have to find alternate forms of education due to their now unusable schedule (Vandewater). Along with significant disadvantages, there are also distinct advantages associated with year-round schooling. Some year-round school advocates suggest that a shift in the time designated for teaching and learning will help students achieve more by minimalizing summer learning loss, allowing for innovation and implementation of creative programs, and by providing the time needed to assist children who need extra help (Lynch). By having breaks that are more consistent, some say that shorter vacations might also help students retain information they would've forgot over a two-month break. Basically, shortening breaks will improve student achievement. Another pro would be how year-round schooling could replace summer school, which many districts have cancelled due to budget cuts. For students that traditionally attend summer school because they need remediation, year-round school allows remediation to be addressed throughout the year. In conclusion, schools shouldn't convert to year-round schooling because it wouldn't help any with learning loss over summer break, it would separate families by discontinuing the traditional childhood summer, and it would hurt the schools' employees. Although year-round schooling sounds as if it might have some potential, there are too many flaws involved with it right now to confirm that it would making schooling better.