Wait, It’s not Summer Yet?

School can be very difficult and demanding. Many students dedicate hours and hours of their time studying, practicing, and preparing for upcoming quizzes and standardized tests. While numerous students study nonstop throughout the school year, it is almost impossible to avoid the “summer slide,” which refers to the loss of knowledge over the long summer break. This means that teachers must spend the first eight to thirteen weeks of the school year refreshing student’s knowledge and memory before teaching them the new school year’s material. This can make the students fall behind and make it more difficult for them to take in new knowledge. Therefore, I propose the solution of year-round schooling to help combat the regression of student’s knowledge over the long summer break.

While summer break is a great way to refresh student’s minds and allow them to have a break from school, it is detrimental to the amount of knowledge they carry with them to the next school year. During the school year, students spend weeks and weeks studying and learning vast amounts of knowledge in many different subjects to prepare them for the next school year. Their teachers spend countless hours teaching, lecturing, and finding fun ways to help these students learn. This is all thrown away when it comes time for summer, when the students spend multiple months away from school, not focusing on school or on learning. During the summer break, students get to go on fun trips and vacations, spend time with their friends and families, and get a well-deserved break from the overall tension and stress that accompanies school. While this break is important for childhood growth and development, it is destructive to the student’s education, sense of routine, and ability to focus.

Due to this “summer slide,” it would be most beneficial to students to allow them the option to attend school year round. While this sounds like students would be going to school every day of the year, year-round school has the same number of days as a regular calendar school year. The main difference is that year-round schooling allows students to have more breaks during the school year. This is beneficial to students and allows them to spend time away from school without losing all of the knowledge they have been dedicated to learning. By introducing year-round school, students would be more likely to retain the knowledge they have learned and be more prepared for the next school year.

In order for year-round school to be enforced, I would start by scheduling a meeting with the Board of Education for my school district and our superintendent. I would discuss with them the pros of year-round school and why I believe it would be a good thing to implement into our district. If the Board of Education approved, there would be a few changes and adjustments that would have to be made for the upcoming school year. For example, the school calendar would need to be adjusted. Implementing year-round schooling would be beneficial to both students and teachers by allowing them to have breaks throughout the year.

An alternative solution to year-round school would be to enroll your student in summer school programs. This is an excellent way to keep your child engaged in school activities during the summer months. Unfortunately, many families would be unable to pay for these classes. They would also struggle to find someone to take them and pick them up if both parents work during the day. Many parents might argue against year-round school by saying it will be hard for them to find someone to watch their child during their breaks. It would actually be much easier to find a sitter for a short period of time than a three month commitment. Although there are many alternate solutions, none of them solve the problem as easily as year-round school.

After the long summer break, many students forget the things they have learned over the previous school year. This regression is a very serious flaw to our current school calendar that needs to be fixed very soon. Students need to be given the opportunity to invest more time and effort into their education, and this can be brought about by year-round schooling. Year-round school will allow students to better retain what information they have learned, and it will make things easier on them in their next school years. Allowing students to perform to the best of their ability is critical in their development and should be the school’s number one priority, and this can be accomplished by implementing year-round schooling.

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