Going to school is something, i believe, most kids enjoy. They get to spend time with their friends, learn new things, and participate in extra-curricular activities. When I was a student in grade school I absolutely loved the whole concept of school, however, it was always nice knowing that there was a two and half month break at the end of the school year to enjoy summer and just be a kid. After going to school for 180 days out of the year and having work to do the majority of that time, it was always fantastic being able to wake up on summer mornings without the stress of school. Many schools are taking into consideration the idea of year round school and some have already switched to this way of schooling. One thing to think about with this idea, is the perspective kids have on it. Will it increase their knowledge of subject matter? Will it burn them out? Will they constantly be unmotivated because it seems as though school never ends? These are just some general questions that I have conjured up in my head, but I believe they are legitimate.
Let's say for instance I were a high school student asked about year round schooling. Here is what my answer would consist of: I do not agree with year round schooling. The reason for my belief in this is bas
ed on many factors. First of all, year round schooling could cause conflict in extra curricular activities. For instance, I am a basketball player and lets say one of the breaks that comes with year round schooling is right in the middle of my basketball season. I wouldn't be able to play basketball and take a family vacation at the same time. The point that I am trying to make is that having school set up this way will cause conflict between family time and extra-curricular activities, making kids choose one or the other. Another reason I do not a agree with year round schooling is that it might cause teachers to cram a lot of information into a shorter period of time in order to make sure their lessons get taught before a break. This could cause problems for kids who do not have a great learning capacity. If it takes some kids longer to learn something then they are at a disadvantage because it forces them to learn information in a short period of time. They may not retain a sufficient amount of knowledge. The last reason why I believe year round schooling is a bad idea is because with more breaks in the school year instead of having one long break, kids have more opportunities to fo
rget what they have learned before the breaks. This will force teachers to re-introduce things multiple times. This will take up the already small amount of time they have to learn new material which ties in to what I said before about cramming a lot of information into a short period of time. These are just a few reasons I have.
As I was searching the web for student perspectives on this issue, I came across a website that has comments from students regarding their thoughts on this issue. Some think that year round schooling would be useful, and some agree with my argument as to why it would not
be a successful switch from our present form of schooling. A lot of students from this website didn't go into to much detail about why they did or did not want year round schooling, but some did. One student disagreed with year round schooling through a personal matter. He/she said their parents are divorced and summer vacations were the time to spend with their dad who lived out of town. With year round schooling he/she wouldn't have this opportunity to spend time with their dad. There are many other reasons why students agree or disagree with this idea. To read students' perspectives click here.
I completely agree with you. Year round schooling is not the best idea. I remember as a student looking forward to summer break. For one, the weather is nice. It would be torture for me to sit in a classroom when I would be normally playing in the pool. I also agree with your argument about the breaks. Coming back from Christmas break is hard enough for most students. I remember teachers cramming before break just to have to reteach it after break because most students forgot the information. I tutor a child afterschool and after Christmas break, it took me about a week and a half to get her back in her normal routine. So, basically year around schooling would be a major change. Students and teachers would have to do a lot of adjusting.
ReplyDeleteI happen to disagree with both of you. I am in favor of year round schooling. For one thing, I disagree with the idea that more breaks equals more chances to forget learned material. In fact, the opposite would happen. Students have a greater chance of forgetting material when they are out of school for multiple months at a time than they ever could being out of school for 2-3 weeks at a time. Also, the time they actually spend in school would not increase by much, if at all. What year round schooling would do is break up that large summer break. Students would still get that time off, but in smaller portions. The reason the students are forgetting material isn't because they have breaks, it's because of the way that material is being taught. There is such a focus on memorizing facts that anything else is neglected. When a student's entire education is built on memorization, they're going to forget that material no matter what you do. Tachers have to change the way they teach so that material is actually understood, and can be applied, not just memorization. As for feeling that it is a never ending cycle, I invite them to live in the working adult's world for a bit. Work truly never ends. Perhaps changing to a full year school cycle will help them acclimate better to the reality of working for a living instead of inducing culture shock when all that free time is stripped away from them.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what you think from an adult perspective from a kid's perspective, year round school would be painful! I can't imagine my children voluntarily giving up a summer vacation. In addition, some kids need to work over the summer to contribute to their college funds, etc. If they were in school year round then students would lose out on a valuable opportunity to get real world experience and earn needed money.
ReplyDeleteApril, I am in complete agreement with you. I really like that you brought up summer work. This is something I totally spaced. For kids to go to year round school and work at the same time would be very difficult. It would take a lot of negotiating between the student and the employer, and let's face it thats a lot of work to schedule a student who will only be able to work a month at a time. The work issue also ties in with extra curricular activities. When kids would normally just go from school to their extra-curricular activities, they will now have to figure out a work schedule that meshes with their activities or not be involved in them at all. We can't make kids choose between work and school organizations.
ReplyDeleteI like this post because it is true.. I'm sure Mackenize asked a student which really should give a person the understanding that children get burned out and out of wack and they need a break to have fun a be a kid..
ReplyDeleteI was totally in agreement for all year round schooling because I know of someone who teaches where they do have it. But, reading some of the comments you have listed, especially for the older students, the summer break is a good chance to make money for whatever the needs. So, now my views change. I see the school in California where my aunt teaches or taught and think that it was a good idea and that it could work elsewhere. Then I see the viewpoints that I did not think about and in a way, am not for all year schooling. My opinion half and half as of now.
ReplyDeleteI think that year-round schooling is a very touchy issue for everyone in America because it seems like such a ridiculous idea. However, I believe that our educational system isn't necessarily doing very well right now, and is steadily falling behind those of other countries. For example, the Asian countries have been putting their students through year-round school for a long time, and yes, they're generally more successful in school than our students. Also, having a summer break dates back to when Americans followed an agrarian way of life, and the adults needed their children to help them plant and harvest the crops. This is clearly outdated now, and although summer vacations are wonderfully relaxing for both the students and the teachers, they're unfortunately incredibly inefficient. Not only do the students need to be completely re focused once they return to school in August, teachers waste a large amount of time reteaching some of the concepts the students were sure to forget while on their vacations. As for the argument that the smaller, more frequent vacations might interfere with extra-curricular activities, the vacations we have already do. Sports teams are always scheduling practices during vacations, and although the students usually made the effort to show up, coach's were lenient if the family was taking a vacation. Also, if this plan really were to be implemented, teachers would base their curriculum around the new schedule, making sure to take the dates of the breaks into consideration so their lesson plans wouldn't be broken up by days that the students are on their vacations.
ReplyDeleteSo, as a soon-to-be teacher, as much as it pains me to think about giving up my summer vacations, I'm also an advocate for year-round school. I think it would be the most beneficial thing we could do for our upcoming generations, and that eventually our government is going to see it as necessary in order to progress.
Sarah, I think you bring up some good points. I agree that other countries are far more advanced than we are educationally. However, I believe that students from other countries are forced into certain careers as young children. Do they really get to decide for themselves what they want to do? Do they ever have the chance to just be kids and have fun. As much as I think education is important, we can't force more education on our students than what they can handle. In those other countries it has been tradition for the longer school year and higher level thinking. Here, in America, it has been tradition to have summers off. To completely switch to a new method of schooling will throw a lot of kids off. I think kids need a healthy balance between fun and school. We don't want bitterness from our kids.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that year-round school would not be the best solution. From things that I have heard on this topic I can see why it would be beneficial to have the year-round school. One aruement that I have heard is that if there is year-round school the students have less opportunity to forget what they have learned. My only aruguement to this is that if the teachers are doing a good job of teaching the material the kids shouldn't forget what they have learned over a summer break. I strongly believe that the students and teachers need a break. One thing that everyone needs to realize is that kids are still kids; they have their whole lives ahead of them to work all year-round, so why do they have to "work" all year at school. I think that the students enjoy the time off and need that time to re-energize themselves. I know a lot of kids would agree with this as well, they need the break.
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