When it comes to year round schooling, many people have debated on whether or not it is the right decision for the students. There is two sides to the argument. One is that summer vacations hurt the children’s learning experience because every year when they come back, they have to re-learn what they have forgotten over the summer. Another side to the argument is that having a summer vacation is essential to growing up. School systems and communities have come up with many different options, and by the end of this paper you can decided which would best suit you. Through research we have found that since back in the 1800’s they have handled schooling in many different ways. Back then schools lacked a long summer vacation we are used to today. Their schooling was handled by them going to school from December to March, have a break, and then return mid-May to August. Other schools in this era had children from working families attend an eleven month school year, it served as a safe and inexpensive place for them to be. Since the 1900’s school districts around the country have offered a longer school year, involving shorter spread out vacations. As opposed to our system now, schooling around the world differs from ours here in America. They are not used to a short school year followed by a long vacation. Instead, children in countries such as Europe, Asia, and South America go to school more days per year, as well as more hours per day. On one side of the debate there is the families and communities that would like year-round schooling. Communities believe that it would save on costs for buildings that go unused during the summer vacations, they believe since fewer students would be attending at any one time they would save money on textbooks and equipment, and since they believe there will be fewer students it would also affect the amount of teachers. Some research suggests that year-round schooling is better for the students. It showed positive effects for those students who are struggling academically, or those children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many teachers, parents, principles, and children believe the long summer vacations hurt them academically, wastes parts of their education, and ultimately wastes tax money. A big topic of conversation is that students get bored over summer break, causing less activity and motivation. Parents find it less stressful to have year-round schooling because they will not have to worry about what their kids are doing over the summer while they are at work. It gets harder to find safe activities they can be a part of for summer, winter, and spring vacations, as well as other random holidays throughout the year that most parents do not get off from work. The other side of the argument is that long summers are vital for kids to grow up. It is something students look forward to the entire year. Some people believe that if schools stay open all year, in the long run it will end up costing almost ten percent more per year due to maintenance. It could also have a bad effect on summer programs that are already struggling financially such as the art programs, sports, and many other state funded programs. They say that the younger the student, who may not be psychologically developed, will not see the benefit of being in school all year which in turn can cause aggression and behavioral problems in the classroom. Another bad effect of year round schooling is that, students need a break. If students do not get the time they are used to relax and spend time with friends and family, they could come to resent school and have bad attitudes about learning and ultimately their own education. They have come up with alternatives for schooling, where the students still get plenty of vacation time but I is spread out over the year instead of a three consecutive month period. The system that seems to work best when dealing with this conflict would be known as the “45-15” type. This alternative is set up with students going in nine-week terms with alternating three week vacations through-out the year. They also start the students in what they call “waves”, rather than all at the same time. S when vacations hit not all of the students are out at one time. This causes schools to be less crowded during the school day, but is still attending to the same amount of students. This choice can seem very complicated, but it has been proven to work successfully if done right. A less popular choice is when schools break up their three month summer vacation and give it to students sporadically through the year.
This has turned out to be a topic that people have been discussing and deciding upon for many, many years. There seems to be no one solution, because not very parent agrees on what is best for their children. Although both sides have valid arguments, all the options seem like they could work if the student, community, and school system do the best of their ability to make it work. Change is never easy, but for some people it is necessary to experience a better life, so if there are some students who benefit from year round schooling then that is the option they should go for, but I could also say the same about the opposite side. There is no right or wrong choice, it all just depends upon what is best for the student in the end.