Should School be Year-Round?

In the recent decades, the number of schools who use a year-round schedule rather than a 9 months on and 3 months off schedule has been increasing. This alternative to the school year schedule with a summer break was first established in the 1960s. As of 2015, more than 3,500 K-12 schools in the United States have opted for year-round schooling rather than the traditional schedule. These changes have predominantly taken place in school districts located in the south and west of the United States. These schedule changes have been met with backlash and concern from parents, staff, and students.  

 

Although “year-round” is used to describe the different schedule, the school year would still include just the normal 180 days of students being in the classroom and the same number of vacation days. Majority of districts who have made the switch split up the 180 days with longer periods of vacation days throughout the entire year. Some of the most popular schedules are four 45-day periods followed by 15-days off, three 60-day periods with 20 days of break, and two 90-day periods in the classroom followed by two 30-day vacation periods. 

 

Advocates for year-round schooling argue that the pros outweigh the cons so much that it is worth making this big change to the school year schedule. Benefits of year-round schooling include a reduction of learning loss over the summer, nearly year-round childcare for parents of younger students, and longer breaks throughout the year which may eliminate the need for students to miss school for a vacation. Cons of implementing a year-round schooling schedule include, teenagers would not be able to have summer jobs, summer camps would not be able to exist or would have to be shorter, and the change would be costly for school districts. 

 

In my opinion, I would definitely prefer the traditional school schedule with a 3 month summer break over year-round schooling. I feel I would perform better academically with a longer break between school years rather than only a few weeks with the year-round schooling schedule. I don’t think it would be very beneficial to many people as it would be a very big change. 

 

Would you prefer year-round schooling over the traditional schedule? Why or why not?

 

What do you think the biggest problem with year-round schooling would be? 

 

What do you think the biggest benefit of year-round schooling would be?

 

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/year-round-schooling-explained/2015/12

 

https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school-621001





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  • I do not think it should be year-round. I would rather have a big summer break than lots of other breaks in between school. Summer is the time to hangout with friends and familt and go on vacation and etc. I think if it was all year-round not a  lot of people would go out for sports because they would be longer and people was free time

    • I agree, during summerbreak most people have a lot of freetime so it's easier to do some things. 

  • no because the 2 and a halve months of summer is better than slightly longer breaks because one long summer is just a lot better

  • I don't think that school should be all year-round. I would rather have a big break in summer than going the whole year. It will allow students to rest from school and be with more energy for next year. I think the biggest problem of year-round schooling would be students skipping school in summer because they are not used to going at that time. The biggest benefit would be that there would be breaks more often.

  • I do not think that we should go to school year-round. Even if you give enough breaks during the school year to have it be the same amount as summer break I still don't think we should go year-round because  I would much rather have school off when the weather is nice and we can be outside. 

  • I do not think that school should be year-round, because then students wouldn't have a summer break. If we had school all year round, it would be hard for parents to plan vacations if students didn't have summer. Students need a long break for their brains to take a break.

    • I agree, having summerbreak makes it easier to go on vacations with family. 

  • I would absuloutely hate year round school, becuase there would be no summer, no sleeping in and life would be horrible. School gets boring and fast. It's easier on our brains and less stressful. I think we all enjoy our summers. But it wouldn't be horrible to get to collage faster but i also want to expericence my whole senior year.

    • I agree with you, I like having a break in the summer. 

  • I prefer the traditional schedule beacuse it gives students a long period of time over the summer to work, vacation, and spend time with their friends. I think that year round schooling would be a good schedule because there would be more freedom for the students. I think the biggest problem of year round schooling is that the kids would be too distracted during the end of the quarter to get anything done.

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