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 that school should be year-round. I think the schools with year-round attendance should have shorter days and/or longer and more frequent time off. I like the "traditional" school schedule, even if we have the long days and short breaks, because we have over ninety days without needing to be at school for a full seven hours.

  • I would prefer the traditional schedule because I would like to have a summer to do fun thing's. I would not want to be at school all year around becasue we would most likely learn the same stuff over and over again.

  • I think you would forget things alot during the frequent long breaks. I'd rather be in school when it's not nice out. During the summer I don't want to be stuck in school. Thebiggest benefit I think would be attendence because people who go on vacations can make it work in the break.

  • I think that having a year around the school would be great you would be wise and stay smart the excellent thing about this would be that everyone would have a good sleep schedule the wrong thing would be would you would never get a break and if you did it would be a week or 2 I think that year around the school would be great.

  • I think I prefer a summer break, but a year-round schedule is interesting. I wouldn't be opposed to trying it out, but I feel like I would enjoy a summer break more. A summer break gives people something to look forward to, especially when the weather is nice. Having year-round child care would definitely benefit some parents, however.

    • I agree with you, parents could benefit from year-round schooling as it would give them child care all throughout the year. 

  • No, absolutely not. I think it is one of the benefits of not only being a student but a teacher as well. They get the summer off from work, and we do from school. We need a while before entering the next grade anyways. I think the summer is also a good time to have a break. 

    • I agree, having summerbreak is a benefit for teachers and some might not want to lose that. 

  • I do not think that school should be year round because kids need a break and that break is summer. Kids can't keep coming to school and not have breaks because then they will start to not listen in class more than they do already.

  • I would rather have a traditional schedule because kids get jobs in the summer. If we have year-round schedules kids wouldn’t be able to get jobs and make money in the summer. We would also put the summer sports practices after school which would make us feel like our schedules feel packed. 

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