Year-Round vs. Traditional School Calendar

An American high school is pretty different from a German high school. One big difference I noticed quite quickly is the school calendar. In Germany, the schools follow a year-round calendar. Here in America, most of the schools have a long summer break (which lasts between 10 and 12 weeks) and rather short breaks throughout the school year. In the United States, about 10% of the students attend a school with a year-round schedule. There are about 3,100 schools with this kind of school calendar in the U.S.

 

In a year-round school calendar, there are six to nine weeks in a row of instruction which are broken up by up to two-week breaks. In Germany, the exact calendar differs from state to state. For example, in my state Brandenburg, we have 6 weeks of summer break, 2 weeks of fall break, 1.5 weeks of Christmas break, 1 week of winter break between the two semesters and 2 weeks of spring/easter break. Furthermore, there are sometimes extended weekends because of national holidays like Ascension of Christ or Pentecost. However, there are still about 180 days of instruction. 

 

Supporters of a year-round school argue that it reduces teacher and student burnout because it gives them a break right when they need it. Furthermore, you can enjoy time off in every season without missing school. This also allows families to travel more other than in summer. A Duke university study suggested that students attending a year-round school are at a slight advantage because they don’t forget what they learned during the long summer break. 

 

However, there are also advantages to a traditional school calendar. The learning won’t be disrupted within a school year because of several breaks. So, the students don’t have to “get used” to school again after a break so many times. Moreover, the students might be more able to enjoy their summers fully and don’t have to go to school when it is hot outside.

 

From my experience, I prefer a year-round school calendar more. I just like it that there are several breaks within the school year, and you get time off. Yet, the summer break is still long enough to travel, hang out with friends and work a few weeks. However, students having jobs and sports seasons for example are handled differently in Germany which might affect the school calendar and my preference as well. 

 

Questions

 

What do you think about a year-round school calendar?

Do you prefer a year-round or traditional school calendar?

Should the summer break be shorter to have more breaks within the school year? 

 

Sources

http://c-hit.org/2017/08/18/year-round-schools-gaining-popularity-nationally/

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/is-it-time-to-reconsider-the-year-round-school-schedule/2020/06

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

https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-involvement/pros-and-cons-year-round-schools.html#:~:text=What%20Exactly%20Is%20Year%2DRound,process%20ongoing%20with%20minimal%20disruption.

https://www.wtps.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912980/Centricity/Domain/1794/Should_school_be_year_round.pdf

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    • I totally agree with you!

  • I personally feel that I would prefer a year-round calandar. I would benefit from having several breaks throughout the year as I can struggle with burnout. The breaks would help me get some much needed rest and enjoy the holidays with my family. I do enjoy having a lenghty summer break, but I believe that it would be beneficial to myself and my classmates to have more frequent breaks throughout the school year. 

  • I think that schools should switch to a year-round school year because when student have school they are stress out and during the summer students can have a break from school work and having a lot of test and things due all at once. I wouldn't care if schools added more or longer breaks during the school year.

    • I agree with you. I also think that it is better for the students and teachers because they have more breaks then. 

  • I think a year-round school calender is definitely pretty neat. However, I really enjoy my summer and would probably rather stick to a traditional school calender. I definitely think that year-round school calenders would help remember stuff though. Sports also play a huge part in America and it would be weird to take weeks off at a time.

  • No, I dont think I would ever like an all year around school year. I enjoy having a summer vacation and not having to worry about doing any sort of school work. I think all year around school would be horrible and it would feel like there is nothing to look forward to. Because when you have a normal school year all you look forward to is summer and if you had an all year around year theres nothing to look forward to. 

  • I think it would be cool to try a year-round calendar, but then again I don't know how I would feel being in school for 18 years straight. I feel like it would be a never-ending cycle of work. Honestly, I don't know what a year-round calendar feels like so I can't say. I think that summer break should be shorter so we can have more breaks, or half-days during the school year. It would just give us students more breaks so we don't go crazy from all the work and stress. 

  • I think that a year-round school calendar would be an interesting experience. It isn't something that I'm completely against but it would definitely be different. I think that it would be nice to have longer breaks but I've never experienced a year-round calendar so I'm not sure how I'd feel about it. 

    • I can understand that. I also think that it is better to have more breaks throughout the school year.

  • Personally, I think that schools should have a year-round calendar because it would be more useful. If we did not have a good big break in the middle of the year; students would not forget what they learned. A big problem with the summer is that everyone forgets everything. And many students are not prepared for the next school year. WIth a year-round schedule, they should forget less.s

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