Ask Mike: Year-Round School
Hey Guys,
Summer vacation is one of the greatest perks of being a kid. Working chumps would gladly trade their corner cubicles for three months of freedom. And yet, as great as the summer vacation is, some kids don’t get to experience them.
Year-round schools are often touted as being more efficient and better for learning. It seems like they’ve been around a while, but I wondered how many American kids are actually enrolled in this system. Finding the answer took some work.
My first stop was the Department of Education‘s official site. There, I was able to locate some statistics on overall student enrollment but nothing specific to kids in year-round schools.
After several dead ends, I came across the National Association For Year-Round Education (NAYRE). The site offers a slew of statistics, including a chart on how many students go to school throughout the year.
According to NAYRE, a total of 2,764 public schools use year-round education programs. This translates to a student enrollment of roughly two million. California, by far, has the most schools with year-long enrollment with 1,322. Hawaii is next with 296.
So, about two million kids go to school all-year round. What percentage is this of the total student population? According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are 49.8 million kids in public elementary and secondary schools. That means around 4% of publicly educated kids go to school all year long. Meanwhile, 96% of kids still run wild from June through August.
What are your thoughts on year-round education? Do you feel a summer vacation is a sacred thing for kids? Would you rather see your children stay on the education track all year and have several smaller vacations instead? Raise your hand and leave a comment below!
Thanks for reading,
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
- Rating:
(8 votes, average: 3.88) - Permalink
- Comments (300)
Loading ...
Subscribe
I think that kids should be able to enjoy 3 months away from school. It’s called taking a break, there is NO need to go year round, thats terrible.
I would absolutely hate to go to a year round school. Not only would it suck to not have a break, but there would be no definate end to one school year and beginning of another. It would be difficult because its like you’re in one grade level and then the next week you’re in another. I’m glad my school had summer vacation.
In year round schools children actuale get more time away from school. They just don’t get the full three months in a row. And now its more like 2.25 months.
Year round school is great. It allows families to enjoy fall for those who like that time of year (who doesn’t?), winter vacation for skiing families, spring for hikers, or summer for beach goers. Parents often find getting an October or April vacation from work much easier than one in the traditional vacation times and travel is generally less hectic. Kids don’t get bored of vacation, nor rusty from school work. And need I say it is a great use of tax money because buildings are not sitting around vacant for three months. Year round is the best and now just give us vouchers, please.
Some people do not understand the concept of year round schools. Year round simply means the school is operating 12-months a year, but the students are on different tracks and they get three week vacations spread across the and throught the year.
Its much easier to remember things at a year round school so you will not easily forgot things. Also there are more days off during the year which is much easier for myself.
I think its good to have a nice long break the best thingys hapen during summer and camp and socials at sleepaway camp its there time to forget about everything and be a kid
OK…really, 3 months of doing absolutely nothing is ridiculous. Yeah, kids love summer vacation & I do think it is a good idea but THREE MONTHS!?!?! that’s just waaaaay too long. I think summer vacation should be one month max. I’m a college student and i choose to go to school year round. If anything I think summer school should be offered. The children that are enrolled should be able to advance faster than those whose parents choose not to do summer school.
It’s not that I’m against it. I just think that 3 months is unnecessarily long. I mean who decided that children should get 25% of every year to roam around?
Kudos to the parents that have their children read and keep up with school work during the summer
Even though I am no longer in school, I still disagree with year-round school. It breaks the tradition of summer time that kids enjoy time off. Kids have so much going on at school, and they want to be able to get away from those things rather than to be constantly worrying about it. Plus, it costs money to operate schools, and it costs money to run air conditing. It also places people on different schedules, which conflicts with vacations and summer jobs. I personally do not like air conditing (unless it is like 110 degrees outside). Let’s keep the tradition of summer vacations.
While I did have tons of great experiences during my summer vacations as a kid, I missed school and found it very difficult to readjust to school-life at the beginnings of each school year.
I am all for year-round education as long as there ARE breaks during the year. Easter/Spring break, Thanksgiving/Fall break, Christmas/Winter break, and Indepence Day/Summer break. They don’t have to be long…a couple weeks should be okay.
thats ridiculouss! i think its more popular in cali and hawaii cause its hot there year round so the kids can still have like the fun of the summer but still goin to school. still, you need a break from school your a kid and your gunna be working for the rest of your life! im 14 and i think the summer is boring but WE NEED IT
I think its terrible that students have to study all year round . If children are forced to study non-stop , how can students relax? Sure , if studying all year round makes them smarter , but I doubt that it really makes a huge difference . No holidays to unwind will cause students to labour under alot of stress , and I am sure that stress will affect students study in a negative way
What most people don’t understand is that you get 3 weeks in fall, 3 weeks in winter, 3 weeks in spring and 3 weeks in summer. So if you wanted to go to disneyland in october on a tuesday or something you’d have the park to yourself…
well, being a student, i would PREFER year long school… i would much prefer lots of 2 week breaks throughout the year as opposed to one big long one. The thing with summer vacation is the first few weeks are GREAT but then a month into it and we’re all sitting around the TV twideling out thumbs. The way i see it, with a year round scool you’d get lots of those great first 2 weeks, and avoid the boring parts..
but i’ve never had to GO to school all year, and i sure as heck wouldn’t want to do it in my run down oven-hot in the summer, ice-cold in the winter school…
Year-round school is NOT year-round.
Students get 3 or 4 weeks off in between quarters depending on the district.
It allows students to get that break, but not have 3 months of losing knowledge.
So much of the first month or two of the Sept-June year is spent reviewing and regaining knowledge from the previous year. It is such a waste of time.
year round school would make working as students near impossible. only have 2 weeks off here or there. the 3 month summer is the best choice
I think year-round school would be awesome, I dont understand the kids who dont give the term “year-round school” any thought, they hear the term and think it is like you are going to be cheated out of your summer break, well you are’nt, infact you get the same. The schools just break it up over the year. The schools that I have heard of, have the students go for a quarter (usally about 9 weeks) and then get a month off. I think that would be best. Also, I think 3 months at one time is just to much. To many kids get bored and then start doing bad stuff. So coming fomr me, I would be all for summer school. By the way, I am a 10th grader.
I am on the fence on if i think it is a good idea for the students. I can see a lot of pros, and a few cons (but big cons).
The people most negatively affected would be the teachers. I am not a teacher, but I can appreciate what an emotionally draining job that would be. They NEED that summer break, to recharge, refuel, and come back and do it all again.
I went to school overseas at an American school up through junior high. We moved back to the U.S. while I was in the 8th grade. At this point, I went to a school that was on a more traditional schedule.
The way the year round school worked that I went to was that it was divided up in trimesters. We would go to school for 3 months and then have a 1 month break. These breaks would be in December, April and August.
I liked the year round system better, because I had the same amount of time off and it was broken up more. It was nice to have a 1 month Christmas amd Spring vacation.
Year-round school is cruel. Kids only have a limited time to be, well, a kid. Plus, people around the world are complaining about an uprise in over-weight children. Summer is a time to get out, go play, and enjoy the sunshine! Sitting at a desk all day won’t do children any good!
I teach at a year round school and LOVE it, as do the kids. It is so much better to look forward to a 3 week break after only 9 weeks than to work your butt off for 9 months straight just for 2.5 months off. Just when the kids and teachers are getting weary of one another, you get a break and come back refreshed.
It does help with overcrowding, and if parents (and students) would be more open-minded and give year-round a try, I’m sure most of them would like it. I hope one day year-round will be the norm.
THERE SHOULD NOT BE SUMMER VACATION AT ALL. KIDS DON’T GET ENOUGH WORK AS IT IS. AS A MATTER OF FACT, MY KID IS OBESE AND WATCHES TV ALL DAY. SCHOOL HELPS KEEP HIM FIT.
Sharon, you are wrong. I think it’s your fault that your kid is obese. But I do agree that kids do not need school breaks. Hell, they even get 6 hours each day away from school!
Well there would be more vacations.
But also, when students go on summer vacation, they forget some of what they have learned, and the schools have to take the time to refresh their minds on everything they’ve learned. When you have school all year things will stick better because you are dealing with them constantly.
But the three month break is a nice thing to have so you can pick up a summer job and earn some money, or just so you can relax without having to deal with the school related stress.
Though you can’t forget that when you go to work, there is no summer vacation (unless you become a teacher), and they should get used to that.
The most important thing is that I, as a teacher, get my time off. Year-round teaching? No, thanks.
I went to a year round school for four years of my life and it was pure hell. I am so glad I get the three months off now, life is so much better.
I think it is good that children have a three month break away from school; however, I also believe that they should use those three months doing something constructive (e.g. a job, an internship, learning a new trade, learning something of their own choosing).
If school is helping to train children to prepare for “the real world” or adulthood, then they should be made to understand that working is a 12 month a year policy, not 9 months. Some of them get it, they just don’t *get it*.
No way man! I’d hate to have to be there for a whole year at a time. 3 months to do nothing is exactly what kids need after 9 whole months of being in that boring building all day. I need a few months to get up at 12 in the afternoon exclusively!
I dont see whats wrong with kids going to year-round school. The best thing about it is that kids get several breaks in between classes. Which I think is better than just one long break.
Actually, I was in year round for a very long time. And I really liked it. I dont know anyone who didnt. We were the only school in the area that had year round and everyone else was like, “Oh, that sucks.” But I really enjoyed it and so did everyone else. We got to go on vacation and have fun during the times of the year that everyone else was in school. I don’t think that year round school was a bad thing at all. Especially since we still got three months of school off. It was just wasn’t all at once.
Year round school is a great idea. Over the summer, kids forget 2/3 of what they learned the last school year. Year round school would eliminate that for maximum learning. Also, I live in the southwest where the summer days top 110 degrees on a daily basis. It’s too hot to go outside, so what not go to school?
My son was in a year round school in California in the 90′s. He went for a month and had 2 to 3 weeks off. It was confusing at first but well organized. One thing about the year round schooling is your neighborhood kids all go to the same school but they are on different schedules. Some are in school while others are out. I didn’t mind it. My kids always get bored of 3 months of summer break. They are more than ready to get back.
What;s wrong with letting kids be kids and actually enjoying their summer and relaxing. What;s more, where are you going to get the money to pay teachers to teach an extra two months (if you think the teacher’s unions will do it for free, you don’t know anything about the NEA)
Actually, I know some kids who go to year-round school and they seem to like it a lot. They get longer spring, fall, and winter breaks than their friends that go to school on the normal track and their summer vacation is roughly two months (in my area), so it’s not as bad as people make it out to be.
In my opinion, having the shorter summer break is better than getting out of school for three months and forgetting everything they’ve learned the past year. Not only that, but the longer spring, fall, and winter breaks give them the chance to travel and visit their families that don’t live near them.
i think both are okay. year round doesnt let you lose track of your education, and traditional lets you have a better vacation
Seeing as how exhausted I was being in school, I couldn’t wait until summer vacation. I was beginning to feel so burnt out and needing a break from other kids who had not had a very high maturity level. If I went to an all-year school, I feel as though my efficiency would decline after awhile and therefore my grades would SUFFER. I also recall ALL of my friends saying they were tired. I just think we should be able to enjoy such a break (My observations)
There are a few good things about going to school year-round. Most school districts still let the kids have 6 weeks of summer break before returning to school in mid to late July. There is one school district in my area that is like this, and that district only has the cycle breaks for the elementary kids. The middle and high schoolers get their full summers. Some teachers would agree that the students have less of a chance forgetting all of the info. they learned during the previous school year. Also, the kids are still given 3 week breaks during the school year. I can see both sides of the issue, there are definite perks and downfalls. You can find that in any school system, though really.
i think it would be nice if we went year round.
but there would have to be breaks every now and then (besides christmas, thanksgiving, easter, etc.)
the reason i have for this is because when i go back to school after summer, i’ve forgotten half the stuff i learned. it’d be nice to keep it fresh in my head.
i still love summer though, besides the heat.
My family loves the year round experience. We get to take vacations during each season and don’t have to miss any school to do so. 3 weeks in the summer – look out beach here we come, 3 weeks in the fall – look out changing leaves we’re going to see you, 3 weeks in the winter – love that skiing, 3 weeks in the spring – woohoo Disney or a cruise or any place we want to go. The job my husband has gives him several weeks vacation a year but he cannot take all of the weeks at once so we’re able to take several family vacations a year. After 3 weeks away my children are refreshed and are ready to begin the learning process again. With a week between school years there is no time to forget what was just learned so the teachers don’t have to spend the first several weeks reteaching what was learned 3 months ago when the kids were thinking about summer and not paying attention anyway. I can’t say about other places but here in NC you can opt out of year round school attendance if you desire but most who try it love it! To each his own but my family supports is 100%.
I live in australia and i’m in year 9. We all go to school year round. It doesn’t mean we don’t get to have breaks and holidays. We get 6 weeks off during christmas (during our summer), a few weeks off at show time and two weeks off for easter. We also get public holidays off, like everyone does.
I like our system and if i got a whole three months off for the summer i’d probly go crazy! I wouldn’t know what to do with all the time off in on big chunk because i’m not used to it.
Also i like having lots of seperate holiday breaks because you get excited before each one, not just excited before summer starts.
It would be SO cool to have an entire summer off, but i guess i like having several breaks too, maybe because i’m used to it.
just because its called year-round doesnt mean we dont get breaks. 6 weeks in, 3 weeks out, not including the holiday breaks like thanksgiving break and winter break.
im an 8th grader who currently attends a year-round school and i love it, and so do al my friends. at my elementary school we didnt have year-round school and i couldnt stand it. after 6-7 weeks i dreaded going to school because my brain just didnt want any more work. but now right when i start getting really stressed out i have a break to relax and when i go back im able to work harder.
I think it would be better to have a slightly shorter summer vacation and have more breaks while school is actually going on. Like three-day weekends….
I think that year round school would be a great idea! You would still have a lot of breaks and you would have them more often so kids would pay attention in school. They would also remember what they learned the grade before and you wouldn’t spend the first couple of weeks catching up.
yeah….my mom would have probably made me go..one of the glorys of being an asian(not)
in Florida this is done as well but it is not 100% all year round what it is they have 5 weeks on (for school) and 2 week off (for no school) this is to space the school year out so they get the needed 180 day of school.
have you also noticed that California (most of it), Hawaii, and florida are all hot states. so they do this to make sure kids do not get over heated, and also get out to have some free time.
Year around schooling? That sounds exhausting! I think that everyone needs a break, which also gives them some family time.
Now that I think back on all the camping trips, amusement parks, picnics, learning to ride a bike, and fourth of july, I can’t imagine that all happening without summer vacation.
It’s filled with memories that many people keep with them for years.
That should be given to EVERYONE.
I think US schools should be structured like they are in England. The school year runs from Sept – July however there are TONS of holidays (vacation)
The main school holidays are:
Christmas- 2 weeks
Spring – 2 weeks
Summer – 6 weeks
There are also one week holidays:
end of October
mid February
end of May
As a current student, I would switch schools if my school was ever to adopt this theory. We students work hard during the year, not even getting to rest after school because of loads of homework and activities. Taking away 3 months of being able to relax and take a vacation or do a camp or something is just wrong. Work hard during the year, and relax during the summer.
I think you’re confused about how year-round schools work. You still get a break for three months, but different kids get them at different times. I went to a year-round school when I was in elementary school, and the way it works is the kids were broken into 4 groups, red, yellow, green and blue groups. Blue had winter off, red had fall, yellow summer, and green spring. Everyone get’s the same amount of time off, but the school is open year-round. Thus it remains active year round which is more efficient since the tax-payers have to keep paying during the summer anyways.
As a student who is part of the 96% that goes to a regular school, I personally love the idea of a year-round school. School isn’t always just about academics; the extracurriculars are a huge part of school and I would enjoy having access to them year-round. Besides, three months of no schedule can get boring….I would appreciate shorter, more frequent breaks much more.
Kids should have summer vacation! It’s part of being a kid to be carefree! Not learning all the time!
After personally switching from the traditional school system to the year-round school system, I prefer year-round. Our school allowed us to go to school for two months followed by a month break. It’s easier on the kids going to school. After going to school for so long, it gets tiresome and a little stressful. The year-round schedule provides a break right when those feelings set in. Though we weren’t able to experience everything that a kid goes through during the summer, we were able to take advantage of the longer breaks later on in the year by taking vacations when prices are cheaper or less people are present.
I am a 13 year old kid, and I’ll say right here that year round school is complete BS. If an 8 year old kid went to school all year, he would miss out on the fun and excitement of going on vacation, or building a fort, or just playing with his friends all week. Summer is required!!!
I think children should have the option to go to school year round. It’s always hard for children to transition from summer vacation into school every year so having school year round would remove that difficulty and the first few weeks of school wouldn’t have to be about getting used to the school enviornment again.
Personally, I prefer summer. Critics of summer say it makes kids forget things, but imagine how distracting it would be to learn for a few weeks and then take a few weeks off over and over again! Kids look forward to summer. Although one advantage of going year-round means that when these students are off they can go to popular tourist spots (Like Disney World) relatively uncrowded. But kids become mentally exhausted and a nice, long break rejuvenates them for the next school year. Besides they still get occasional breaks (Thanksgiving, Christmas etc.) and an extra long weekend here and there (Like conference days or Labor Day).
Frankly as a parent I need a summer vacation with my children as much as they do. For me this is a time to relax, have fun and reconnect with the family without the pressures of test scores, homework, and tight schedules.
I have just finished school, and i have to say that the summer vacation is awesome but sometimes it can strike boredom after a week or two. I believe a system that offers several 1-2 week breaks every month or so would be more beneficial because it would allow kids to learn effectively while giving them significant time off as well.
I disagree with you. The idea of year round school is less time to forget all the things you’ve learned over the year during school. What’s the point in completing a year of school just to let everything slip right out of your brain first day of summer? Then they have to waste a few weeks on review, kids end up with worse grades because they forgot everything they’ve learned and start the year off already confused and doing horrible. This may sound like an exaggeration but it’s not, it’s happening right now at my high school. I admit some kids, mostly the kids taking all the honor classes at my school benefit from the summer break, time to let our brains cool off. But the other kids, they go home the last day of school and forget everything the moment summer hits.
You also have to consider that the kids who go to year-round-school still get breaks. They’re just divided up a bit to make them shorter, pretty much the same amount of time. And maybe you get 3 months in your state but mine only gives 2 anyway.
I think kids today are ungreatful. we all demand to have this and that and walk around like we deserve everything we get when we don’t work for it. I go to a school with a lot of students who have low-income families. I myself am no millionair, summer vacation is great but, if we can improve our educational system I’m all for it. You think those kids in year-round school have it bad, maybe you should do some global research.
Japanese kids, they have year-round school. During their breaks they still go to school to study.
Kids in china? They go to school from 8 in the morning to 8 at night. So don’t pitty yourselves.
The taco diagrees with Chris Warner by the way. Nice Question mike.
I think that everyone needs a good break, and students are no exception. Keep summer break!!
I think that year-round schools are so much better than the system majority schools have. As a high school junior, I have had experience, and I know many will disagree with me. At my current school, we get out in late May, and begin again in late August (next Monday). Throughout the year, we get one day off a few times a month, Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Break “Holidays.” I would much rather have more than one day off every two months (excluding those three mentioned earlier). More breaks between the school year is much more beneficial. Not only do the kids get to rest, relax, and catch up on work, but they get to sleep and recharge as well. Summer Break, however, is three months of boredom for most kids. Yes, they can relax, take a vacation, swim, tan, hang out with friends, go to camp, etc., but in this day and age, that’s becoming extremely rare. Now, they fry their brains watching Television 24/7, playing Nintendo, eating more than usual, exercising even less, and chatting on the computer. Excuse my accusations because this is not true for all, but most. The fact is, kids are gaining more weight and losing out on knowledge in the Summer. Breaks throughout the year encourage knowledge that would be otherwise lost through three months of absolutely no learning. My ONLY problem with year-round schools is camps and programs offered in the summer. These programs help develop a specific area of expertise the child is interested in and introduces them to new people, environments, and the “real world” (supervised). Schools should make an exception to students accepted into those programs and allow them to attend, although I understand this would be difficult with the 6-week residential programs. Even if a summer vacation is seen as sacred to kids, they need to prove they will do more than sit around and appreciate it for all it’s worth. These are my opinions, and I feel very strongly about them, although I understand not all do. I just hope the kids can pick which school they would prefer to go to and not have it determined by their location. The lack of diversity of these systems prevents this and encourages a one-track mind.
yeah thats right. im a kid and i think we need a break too.
Year round education is definetley something that should not be acceptable to most people. For a kid, one of the most important things they must figure out is what interests them (not just talking about school, all apects of life) How can they possibly figure this out if they’re always being influenced by the people in school? In addition, with a few exceptions, most day jobs go for at most a few hours passed the last school bell. After that, adults are able to relax and enjoy the rest of their day. Not for kids though. After the school bell rings, their day has just begun. Forgetting about after school activities, studying and homework alone can drag most kids workday to obsurd hours of the night. Furthermore, unlike working adults, who have many more freedoms during the days, kids are stuck in a dark building with nearly every window shade’s closed and are forced to abide by a schedual of constant moving around from classroom to classroom where each subject matter is completely different from the last. Forget about being interested in what your last teacher was saying, once you go to your next class and that English teacher sees that Chemistry book, you’re in trouble. In trouble for wanting to learn more. Funny how the system works, isn’t it? My next point is directed towards the people that argue that going to school year round helps you grow up because most adults work year round. One of the most important lessons a child must learn is how to seperate themselves from their parents for extended periods of time. If a child goes to school year round, that means at most, they’re “frequent” and “longer” vacation time won’t last longer than two weeks. Not that big of a time period when compared to 2 months that that kid could be spending in summer camp for example. This could also be used when looking at parents. Don’t you think most parents just as much would enjoy having one or two months away from their kids?
i believe that yes kids should be aloud their summer vacation. as a teen myself every year since i could remeber i would be counting down the days till summer break since february!
as kids we do need a break, hey we’re still growing up. if we dont have our long breaks we wount have time to do the things that kids do.
if we dont have breaks as a kid, when will we in life?
I know that once school is over, you’ll only get a week off here and there if your lucky, but for now kids need time to be kids.
I have gone to an all year round school before and let me tell you, you get a month of vacation and then go back. I think kids enrolled in this system shouldn’t be in school all year long and have fun like kids are supposed to. After all, they’re only young once.
There is no point in a 1 year school. Kids deserve a break.
I could see why year- round schools would be more beneficial to a child’s grades, kids need summer.
Well, back here in my country, we do have all-year schooling and there is no such thing as a 3 month break, but we do have breaks, only its broken up. however, i suppose that if you total theses breaks up, it wil accumulate to more or less 3 months… it doesnt really make much of a difference actually.
ive been on year round for years now – and i LOVE IT ! you get vacation when most people r still in school, so not as much crows – and we still get a month of summer off ! i can judge fairly cuz i used to be in traditional too . . .
I think vacation is great for kids. It gives them some joy and fun.
It also helps seniors in HS because during that time is when they decide their colleges and such.
Our high school used to be year round, 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, with the chance to take extra classes during 2 of the 3 weeks. 4 weeks in Dec, and 6 weeks in the summer. When the district decided to cut it, the kids staged protests to keep it. They were able to for several years, but in the end, the district chose what they wanted for the district (all the schools being on the same schedule) rather than what those at the school wanted 90% of the students wanted to keep it
What?! Three months off? Seriously? I only get two. >_>
Anyways, I think at least deserve some sort of break. I mean, at the end of my school year, I’m completely burned out.
A break is really nice.
I do think kids should have an all year round school but like mabey 3 or 4 weeks off every couple of months? I love summer vacation seeing as how many children enjoy it, but I don’t like how parents leave their kids alone that are like 12, sometimes I think students should be in an all year round school just, because of how some students act over summer vacation, doing drugs, drinking, getting arrested? And teens, oh my god, how many get pregnant over summer vacation because of the extended curfew? Teens that usually have a 10 o’clock curfew during the school year, have a 2-3 am curfew, How much you wanna bet that they’re over at their bf/gf’s house? I absolutely loved summer vacation, it was the best time of the year. I am in an all year round school, and I love it because I get breaks that other students don’t. Actually I have 4, 6 week blocks and I get a break every time one is over for all the grading my teacher has to do. And I absolutely love, not like that, my teacher because if I need to turn in something late, she only takes of 10% with a parent’s note.
I think summer vacation is a much better idea that having a bunch of smaller vacations.
An argument I have read a lot is that when you have summer vacation, the children forget everything they learned the previous school year. Then all this this time is wasted on review etc. etc.
However, if you go to a year long school, there are more breaks, thus more wasted time on review.
Also.
I think everyone needs a long vacation!
Kids should be able to have summer vacation. It’s a time for them to relax, have fun with friends, and it leaves them refreshed and occasionally even happy to go back in the fall. It also gives families a chance to be together more, and maybe even take a family vacation- kids aren’t allowed to miss very much school, making a vacation nearly impossible other than winter and summer vacation.
I think kids need a break from school. After 9 long months of constant learning they deserve a break. Going all year round might turn children off the schooling later (aka college) because they never got the breaks like many children, 96% to be exact, did.
I am going to be a freshman in high school. I would much rather have a year round school than getting 3 months off. I think that it would be more beneficial if we would go all year but take longer breaks for holidays. People would be able to take holidays and not have to skip school. Then we could recognize every holiday, instead of skipping some. I believe that if we did that, there wouldn’t be problems with china and india beating us at our own schools and colleges. I think that we would get a lot farther in our studies every year. We’d learn more and do better in school. School is school, why not make it better?
I agree, I’d hate to go to a year round school!
Summer vacation isn’t really sacred (depending on the kid), but there are a bunch of kids who waste taxpayer’s money. They’re late to school, choose not to work, and end the semester with C’s and D’s (that’s considered okay). Of course there ARE other kids who truly do work hard and actually take their education seriously, but making them go to school year round is ridiculous. They’re not going to learn anything, save your time and money and enjoy summer.
School is a joke. College is a scam. Not giving kids summer is the worst possible idea I’ve ever heard of. Education is overrated. Vocational training is superior. ‘Nuff said .
I home school my daughter and she essentially goes to school year around. Does that mean she works all the time? No. She is involved in many activities that some would consider fun. But she learns from them in a way that keeps her learning.
Least someone brings up the socialization issue my daughter is getting ready to ‘graduate’. She has taken many leadership roles and has responsibilities that puts her in contact with other adults. She has recieved many compliments on her abilities to lead younger youth and work with peers and older adults. To bad public school kids don’t get the oppurtunity to get their education in real life.
Hmm i think yer round school are okay b/c they never get to rest & they should get summer vacation for 3 weeks
REGULAR SCHOOL FTW
Well, its not like they have absolutley NO summer break. Its just that they have a smaller summer break, and more frequent shorter breaks.
I think its terrible for kids to not have breaks. It may feel like working at a job that they do, simply for the money, rather the school for them. I think it could also potentially discourage a person from learning.
I think the long break is important for kids to experience life outside formal education. It’s a great for them to get the chance to spend time with people of different ages, relatives they don’t see often, and to just enjoy being a kid.
I went to a year round school in elementary school and traditional 3 month summer, in middle and high school. what was great about year round school, is that you would go to school for 9 weeks and then have 3 weeks off, so quarters were easy to follow, and you got a break between them. what sucked is while the older kids were playing all summer we were in school, but we had air conditioning. Plus in the fall, winter and spring we got significantly longer breaks while the older kids awaited holidays and what nots. I think it isn’t a bad thing, I think it is different but it works, plus it helps keep class sizes down because if you do it in a rotation(which most year round schools do) at any given time 1/4 if the students are on break, thus taking a school population from 1,000 to only 750, trust me it helps alot!!!
I think that year-round schools are so much better than the system majority schools have. As a high school junior, I have had experience, and I know many will disagree with me.
At my current school, we get out in late May, and begin again in late August (next Monday). Throughout the year, we get one day off a few times a month, Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Break “Holidays.” I would much rather have more than one day off every two months (excluding those three mentioned earlier). More breaks between the school year is much more beneficial. Not only do the kids get to rest, relax, and catch up on work, but they get to sleep and recharge as well.
Summer Break, however, is three months of boredom for most kids. Yes, they can relax, take a vacation, swim, tan, hang out with friends, go to camp, etc., but in this day and age, that’s becoming extremely rare. Now, they fry their brains watching Television 24/7, playing Nintendo, eating more than usual, exercising even less, and chatting on the computer.
Excuse my accusations because this is not true for all, but most. The fact is, kids are gaining more weight and losing out on knowledge in the Summer. Breaks throughout the year encourage knowledge that would be otherwise lost through three months of absolutely no learning.
My ONLY problem with year-round schools is camps and programs offered in the summer. These programs help develop a specific area of expertise the child is interested in and introduces them to new people, environments, and the “real world” (supervised). Schools should make an exception to students accepted into those programs and allow them to attend, although I understand this would be difficult with the 6-week residential programs.
Even if a summer vacation is seen as sacred to kids, they need to prove they will do more than sit around and appreciate it for all it’s worth. These are my opinions, and I feel very strongly about them, although I understand not all do. I just hope the kids can pick which school they would prefer to go to and not have it determined by their location. The lack of diversity of these systems prevents this and encourages a one-track mind.
Well I live in Australia so I have the ‘all-year round’ system. I think its better because we get 3 months for Christmas + Summer. Even though its winter in December in America – I still think that would be better for everyone + also a little less confusing.
x
It’s a good idea. Japan, for example, the kids are in school for almost all year, with a couple weeks off.
The original school system evolved around the old agricultural need to have kids around to manage the farm around summer to early fall (in my local, although it’s now superceded by a golf event, it used to be a week off from school so kids can be around to help till and sow the seeds on their farms). Today, that system is long gone.
If medical schools are thinking about extending their schools to 6 years due to their heavy class load, that should give schools a major hint that the load in elementary and high schools has also increased.
Doubt today that kids can get away as easy in reading comic books in class, as it was in the 70s. It was easy because the class load was much lighter.
We should definitely have year-round school. Everybody I know is completely sick of summer by the time it’s over, and in the middle of the year we’re all burnt out. We should have well-spaced breaks throughout the year.
i really do think that children should have holidays for 3 months between school, i mean all year round school is just absolute horror,
vacations give the minds of children a breather to absorb things they have learned previously,
and even though it seems as though they forget everything during the summer [lol] its not true, and little tweeking and the memory is fresh and new.
i’m 17 myself, and summer holidays are such a relieve especially after the exams are over, its a huge break, to spend time doing things you were too busy to do before. during the summer i catch up with some thoughts and i write stuff down, do some painting, and of course go on a holiday.
my friend’s mum makes her go to a summer school every year for two months, and she hates it, and she still does in the exams the same as the rest of us.
I do see some great benefits in not having the 3 month gap in learning such as not having to have teachers reteach information from the previous year but all in all I think it’s a good system. It gives kids who fall behind a chance to catch up through summer school. It also gives a chance to do extra curricular things that would be impossible to do otherwise like experiencing having a job or doing full time volunteering for a summer or even going on church trips. Also, when you get to high school age the summers rarely include much free time. Juniors and seniors especially spend a large amount of time looking at and applying to colleges. So, my vote is for the 3 month summer break but as I said, the other side has its advantages.
I went to a year-round school for grades K-1st and let me tell you I didn’t like it. We only got 2 weeks off for the summer and when we would go back (two weeks were always in the middle of July) it would be hot!
They usually gave us the month of December off, but it was cold so I would be in the house all the time. Finally I was put into a regular school system from grades 2nd and up and I was sooo grateful.
Year round schools (track schools) are terrible. Take it from my experience.
You are missing as vital piece of information. Kids who are in year round school still attend for the same number of days. In most cases you still get a summer break (about a month) and a Christams break (again, about a month) and several longer holiday/seasonal breaks.
In theory it’s a great concept – teachers and students are more productive with more frequent breaks. However, you also need to consider how it effects high school summer jobs, tourism in the area, day care and local summer camps, school districts’ investment into air conditioning, etc.
Also, if you look at specific examples of regions that have year round school, it’s not always implemented as an educational benefit. Some districts in North Carolina, for example, have a “split session year round school” simply to accomodate the insane population growth!
If we all started out this way it would have been FANTASTIC… there really are wonderful benefits! But it’s very difficult to make the change.
When I was in elementary school, my school system was toying with the idea of going year-round. The kids in year-round schools still get the same amount of days off, just not all in a row. That means a LOT more vacations!
I don’t specifically remember what they said about when the vacations were (elementary school was a LONG time ago) but I vaguely remember something about a large vacation every three months. Maybe it was a 2-3 week vacation or something like that.
Honestly, I would have preferred the year-round school!
Unlike most people think all around doesn’t mean NO breaks it simply means different breaks. For example, a student in a “regular” school system might go 2-3 months with a combined week of break time not including weekends. A similar student in an all year school would do the same thing but have weeks of vacation. They all go the same amount of total days throughout the year and have the same amount of break time its just spaced out differently.
I think there should be school all year round. The kids forget so much during the summer and become quite bored fast. And when you have bored kids there is usually a hint of trouble behind that.
I think they need to be doing something during the summer, being home those three months isn’t good for anyone. Either school or some kind of activity.
They talked about going all year in my area, and of course the kids are going to dislike the idea. Now, I see it as something that has its pros and cons, kind of like school uniforms. The kids who do go to school all year, they get frequent breaks, so in a way they get their summer vacation spread out periodically throughout the year. Some schools go 9 weeks, then get 3 weeks off, or they go 2 weeks, get 2 weeks off, etc etc. If the school does it right it can be a great idea. I think it honestly depends on the area, the kids, and what would benefit the kids most, and probably keep them out of trouble, as kids tend to get into alot of trouble during the off time.
I am enrolled in a public school that participates in summer vacation. I for one would like to keep my schedule for learning. I’m already in the smart classes for my grade and I think that proves that you don’t need to be locked up in school that long to learn more. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure that all the small vacations year round schools give total up to around the same amount of days. So it really doesn’t make a difference.
As a kid, I do believe that I should have summers off, (a way to make BIG money) and to have fun, and my school almost went year round. But, we would have longer Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Spring breaks. Also, those three day weekends we get for holidays would become like 5 day weekends. I guess it would be better for us in the long run because we wouldn’t forget things over the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I still want summer, I am just fairly pointing out the facts.
I currently work in a year-round school and I don’t think you’ve gotten all the information straight.
1. We get eight weeks off in the summer.
2. Every 9 weeks we get a 2 week break. (Think about that. You get two spring breaks every nine weeks!)
3. We have a winter break and a spring break.
4. If you fouled up in a class and failed a semester you can retake it during the intercessions.
5. There are multiple tracks for students who enroll late or transfer. New classes start every two weeks.
It is much more effecient than having 3 months off when it is blistering hot outside. For example my next two week break starts September 29. What a great time of year to get out into the woods. The weather is not nearly as hot and I’m planning a week and a half camping trip.
I think that kids should be able to enjoy 9 months away from school.
Why would you need to go year round. I mean some of the teachers actually got a teaching degree so they COULD have summers off. Everyone that gets summers off, wants summers off.
I think that going to school year round would suck, but at the same time help a lot of kids out.
Kids need a beak some teachers aren’t the greatest to be around all year long a three month break from them can be such a relief.
Having the break also gives kids reason to enjoy themselves while they are young.
No, kids need an education, not a vacation. Being a kid is the vacation. Do children have to worry about the details that adults do ? No, MOST just go to school and play with their freinds. When the farm families needed kids to work, they got 3 months of school to help on the farm. Thats a long time ago. Now you have kids that need supervision during the summer. Costing their parents serious money.Do you want to be a succesful adult or just well rested. Teachers in my area are laughing all the way to the bank. We have a gym teacher that makes close to $100,000 at year. I’m sorry he only works 9 months of the year. Maybe he gets a second job for those 3 months. Check the date, it’s not 19__ anything anymore.
I like having a 3 month vacation from school, even that seems like its too short. Since I am still in middle school, there’s no AC, so school would be terrible through the hottest months of the year. Of course we all loose some of what we learned throughout the year, but we still have books and papers we are still required to complete and memorize. Most kids probably prefer the long summer break.
Every family/kid deserves the option. Each system should offer the opportunity for a kid to advance in grade level so that they can enter college sooner and begin his life on schedule with a college degree already in the bag. As a matter of fact, scholarships should be modified to reflect year round attendance. People can begin families in their twenties instead of their thirties unless this is a choice of theirs.
For those who can’t resist the lure of the summer daze, then they would have the option to take the summer off. These are the ones that wouldn’t go to college anyway.
Companies would have a supply of well educated young people to draw upon and a supply of worker drones as well. Young people could jump start their careers and reach higher levels within an organization.
u are awesome even though i don’t know u !!! im just commenting everywhere on everyone’s page
I don’t know if its easier to deal with if you grow up with it, but if my school started **** like that, I’d move to another county.
Maybe elementary school and middle school should still have three months’ summer break but I personally think year-round high school (although maybe a three-week winter break, instead of the current two weeks) might be OK; the pace can be slower, there won’t be the insanity at every vacation…also, vacation would be spread out instead of having four month marathons without breaks. I hate that about school, even though we get summer vacation right after. I’d rather have breaks more often.
I’m sorry to post on your comments, but i could not find where I can post questions directly to you!
Hope you don’t mind me asking you questions in the comment section?
Year round school is great. It allows vacations other than peak times, frequent breaks so kids and teachers don’t go as crazy or get as bored, and allow peak heating and cooling months to be avoided somewhat. Children don’t forget as much with year round school b/c they are not out of school as long. With regular school, children often forget a large part of what they learned during their 3 month break, and they go without breaks for so long they often get worn down and quit working. This can be very bad b/c they learn less and put out less effort during testing times. Lastly, teachers benegit greatly also. Imagine making a terrible income, putting up with wild kids who aren’t well disciplined and you aren’t allowed to discipline them much either. This is a better schedule for the sanity of the teachers.
I went to a year-round school for my 5th grade year as a kid, and it wasn’t terrible. But the only problem is that the summer activities you couldn’t always attend to.
And another problem is, although the schools like that may be more efficient, if every public school changed year-round then our economy would change too. Think about the camps, sports, etc., that couldn’t continue and would shut down.
Yeah, thats just ridiculous. Nobody wants to have year round school. Keep it how it is!
If you look at a sample schedule of Hawaii’s year round class time, you can clearly see that there are so many 3 week breaks every other month. Also in the summer the school has a 6 week break. To tell you the truth, I think it would be very hard to keep finding day care every other month for 3 weeks while your kids sit around doing nothing.
i think summer vaction is great!!
it’d be horrible to go to school all year long!!!!
it’d be horrible to sit in school during the summer when it’s so gorgeous outside!
As I read all these comments, I was amazed that no one mentioned visiting parents during summer break. My parents were divorced and my father lived in another state so I went to see him every summer. I was usually there for over 2 months. I hated it! I missed my home and my friends. My dad traveled out of town all week so I was stuck there with my stepmother. If we’d gone to school all year my visit wouldn’t been much shorter. (Yes, I’m still bitter about this!)
My friend’s son goes to a private school and goes all year. They enjoy the breaks throughout the year. I think it might be a good idea because during the summer my daughter has every commercial and show on Nick, Disney, etc. memorized. And if I have to watch one more episode of Sponge Bob!
I went to an elementary school that had year-round and I loved it. I got to go to school for 3 months and get a whole month off. It was great, I think they gave us assignments to do while on vacation, but it didn’t bother me. I didn’t have to get up early and I did lot’s of fun things still. For regular summer vacation you only get like 2 1/2 months off and then you’re back in school for 9 1/2 months straight with a few days off here and there. I didn’t like that when I got into high school.
I am so glad my school didnt do it. When I was going to elementary and middle school the school district had 3 votes on making school year round. They wanted us to go 7 weeks then get off for 3. Each time it was voted down something like 7x% no. They pushed hard but most people in my district had zero interest in it.
Speaking from experience I absolutely hated year round school for the simple fact that while I was out of school all my friends were in school — which basically left me alone with a babysitter (who by the way was an elderly woman) who wasn’t much fun…As far as the benefits of attending a year round school I really couldn’t say because I young and vaguely remember anything other than the fact that I was bored for months on end!!
OMG!!!!! peoples!!!!! year round school means every 9 weeks u get a 3 week break!!!!!! i luv year round school!!!!!!!!!!
OMG ppl!!! even during normal school we get breaks every month. during year round do they have school on the weekends??? I think year round school is for those ppl who make strait A’s all the time. a.k.a. SMART PPL!!! Plz no year round… : (
as a child i went to a year round school! i actually have attended 8 elemtreys schools while growing up and i would have to say that the Year Round School was the best by far!! if you have never been to one, then you have no idea how it it run! its not like we wen to school all year! there were breaks!! it worked like this: there are 3 tracks, A, B, and C. children were put in to tracks depending on age and grade. and each track had there own breaks. this way not all the children were at school at the same time.
in 4th and 5th grade i was on track A, i would attend school Sep-Nov.and have Dec off. go back Jan-Mar and have off in April, go back May-July and have August off. then a new year would start! so all my friends in my class would have the same break as i did. and i found this was way easier to get back in to the groove of school. only having a month off at a time caompared to 3 at once worked for me. i could still retain the knowledge i had learned and in a month pick it back up again. Having a 3month vacation for elementry students is much too long. then sittin in school for nine months with only thanxgivin break, x-mas, and spring! which is about a week to two! Year round is much better in my opinion, and if i ever have kids i would want them to attend a year round school as well! it would be great if every elemtry school was like this!
I have 3 kids and i honestly think that i has to be hard to be a kid and deal with as it is! Summer break is like a nice long refresher and it also gives the kids time to forget about petty arguements and grudges and grow up a little bit, i think its a healthy pause! and kids need it! Besides, once theyre grown theyll never get 3 months of freedom and carefree exsistance untill retirement!!! So I have to say i am against all year school!!
I think that the traditional 9 month school should be maintained, because otherwise, the three reasons why people become teachers are gone! (1. June, 2. July, 3. August) No, but seriously, teaching is not a well paid profession and many teachers choose to work at a different job during summer to supplement income or work on more classes in order to raise their pay from the school. Taking the summer away from kids AND teachers would be a difficult thing to do in much of a larger scale than it is today. Parents who enroll their children in those schools are not thinking of learning. They are thinking of daycare. If it is a public year round school, then it is even free day care! In any case, I am for the traditional school year. It makes more sense to me.
The reason for year round schools, at least here in Las Vegas, is that you can increase the capacity of a school so the community can build less buildings. It is a great concept for rapidly growing areas like ours, where school construction has a hard time keeping up with population growth. Kids get 3 week ‘breaks’ several times a year with year round schools. There are something like 4 or 5 (I don’t remember, because my kids are now in middle and high school, and only the elementary schools run year round schedules) different ‘tracks’ or schedules, that way when one group of kids, or ‘track’ is on 3 weeks vacation, one of the other groups uses their classroom then. When they come back, the other class may go on 3 week break, or they move to yet another classroom just vacated for 3 weeks by another of the 4 groups of kids. So at any one time, one group is always on a 2 or 3 week break, but no classroom sits empty. My kids have been off since June – back to school Monday. Yay!
i couldn’t imagine having school year round
because i really don’t think it is nessicarily
plus things like camp and sports would shut down
Well i think that a traditional school year is best. Although they do offer a multitude of benifits they also elimintate some of the things that every teen wants. Summer Jobs would be virtually impossible leaving only part time jobs even during those three weeks off. Some people also go away to the Summer to there parents hometowns with family(grandparents) or for vactions to more extremes like other countries and have wiated for a long time. Many kids do tons of things like camp. For those people who have nothing to do for the two months thats not the schools fault. In my district students get Summer Homework in the higher grades that is easy, but keeps there minds from rotting.
I am a big supporter of Summer Vaction.(Plus after school when will they have this time when they will be working through Summer)
As a student, I think it is a great idea. It is hard to adjust to school once I am done with two and a half months of break. Year round school would make it much easier and I can’t disagree to three weeks of break each quarter. I think breaks should be no longer than that. You learn more—or should I say remember what you have learned a lot easier. It’s true, the first month of school always seems like reviewing.
I think that having summer break is best. I go to an old school and it’s horrible enough not having air conditioning when we go back to school, let alone actually sitting there in the summer. Of course all the parts that do not have AC are in the top of the building, and heat rises. >.<
If we got air conditioning I might be able to consider it.
I’d like to propose a new idea as well. What about 3 day school-weeks? We’d have more time to get homework done if we’re active in sports and other organizations. We’d have to have a few 4 day or 5 day weeks here and there to get the full 180 days, but otherwise i think it’s worth consideration.
Year round school can suck my left nut. There’s nothing great about it.
I work my ass all year long and don’t get summer vacation?
That’s bullshit. I enjoy my summer vacation thank you very much.
I went to year-round school for 2-1/2 years and loved it. We got 6 weeks off for summer which was plenty. Every six weeks we got a week off. And then longer holiday vacations. You didn’t get burnt out on school. It was also great for students who were having trouble in school. You could go to intersession during the week off and get help with classes. I know kids who would have failed without the extra help. And then you don’t have to worry about losing your summer to summer school. My kids will start year round school in a couple of years and I think it will be great for family vacations. I live in South TX, I don’t want to wait until its too hot to have time to take vacations.
I go to a year round school. It’s not as bad as you think it is people.
I personally feel that year round school would be fine if the children who have year round school still have the same amount of vacation. Having the vacation more broken up would be fine, I would have been fine with a couple of month long or month and half long vacations more scattered around the year. Actually my sister and I always felt like 3 months off was too much off when we were young. By the end of the summer we’d always be wanting to go back. Though I think it might be harder on teachers to not have that 3 month long vacation.
Hmmm reading everyone elses comments really makes me wish I could have gone to a year round school. I would have liked the one that went 3 months of school, then a month off, like the school SaVannah went to. And some people keep saying how they would hate to be stuck in classes in summer beause it’s too hot, well it rarely get’s too hot where I live in the summer. So this type of school system would be perfect. Our summer days are usually around 80 degrees, and we rarely get days in the 90′s. Like this summer I think we’ve only had 4 days get past 90.
The concept of year-round school is a great idea. I go to what is considered normal school whith three months off in Summer. The thing about year-round schools are that they have about the same amount of time off as normal schools do. They go to school for three months and then have one month off, just meaning that summer vacation is broken into three pieces instead of one large chunk. Many educators have found that much of what students are taught is lost on the long Summer vacation. I like the three months off to have fun and to work, but if the difference is the year-round student gets the higher paying job and I am stuck with low income, then I can live without the summer vacation and wait until retirement.
I used to work in a year-round school, as a teacher’s aide. I definitely feel that the traditional calendar is better – because kids need a nice long break! Attending year-round like that actually didn’t seem to improve learning – as evidenced by standardized testing scores – in our school.
i go to year round school and i prefer it to the other way of schooling.
well, around where I live, Middle Tennessee, some schools are on the year round, but it only cuts the summer by two weeks with an extra week durning winter break and either 2 weeks for spring break or 2 weeks for another holiday like Thanksgiving.
Also, some schools have block scheduling where instead of having the traditional 8 periods a day they have 4 that are around an hour and a half each. This makes one year of a class go by in just one semester, personally i like this a lot better.
Kids NEED summer break!
You adults aren’t the ones who get 2-3 hours of homework!
I have been to both types of school as a child, year round and the more tradiotional three months off for summer.
What i think most people don’t realize about year round schools is that you get the same amount of time off, it’s just scattered. You get about a month off around christmas time, you get a month off about spring, and you get a month off around summer (as well as some other breaks)……….it’s not like you’re not getting a break, you are, but not such a big stretch.
i’m neutral in what i think is better. year round SOUNDS horrible, but it’s really not that bad. you’re NOT spending more time in school, it’s just spread out across the year, as opposed to crammed into nine months, and then three months off…………
BUT that three months off is nice!!!!
i actually think i enjoyed the year round school more, cause when EVERY other kid was goign to school, i was still in break, with the small exception of summer.
i think the options should be there to choose whichever format you prefer. Growing up i experienced both, and actually, i think i enjoyed the year round more, but that’s just me
My kids go to what some people refer to as year-round school, but is actually a “balanced calendar”.
Under this system, there is simply a required number of school days in a year — the local shools decide what days will be in school and which will be vacation.
My kids get 9 weeks in summer (about the time it takes for them to be bored – they used to have 11 weeks), 1 week break after first quarter, 2 weeks after every other quarter -longer at Christmas, a week at Thanksgiving, and all traditional holidays. My kids absolutely love this, and so do I. When our school system initiated this change, some people did fight it,
til they found out all the time off their kids would have.
Also, our school system’s main goal with this was to provide help during the breaks for students who were falling behind – not the whole break, they still get time off too – and not wait and let them go thru the entire school year failing or falling behind and struggling. This way, they get help sooner, less failure, less kids in summer school after a year of being behind (which, by the way has been proven not to work).
I would not like going back to our old schedule. There really are many benefits to this one.
I read science books most of my summers, tried to compare what I read to my world, so I guess year-round schooling was kinda my choice.
I think once you get to high school, being able to structure your own class schedule would actually help once prepare for college (where I took gen eds and deficiencies during the summers).
I live in Australia and they only have year round schools here. It’s much better – having the year broken up into four terms and having a break in between it. we get at least 12 + weeks off a year in pure holidays, not to mention various days we get off.
i despise the idea of yearlong school
kids and teens need breaks
but in Hawaii i think its perfect because its practically a vacation everyday there
in the states, not many states experience year round warmth and sunny days
so they take vacations and use summer as there getaway
but as for California and Hawaii, well i think there fine over there with there all year schooling
Disagree with year round school. I am 16 and I have 2 years left of school. When I finish school in June I want to be able to get a job and many teachers have summer jobs to earn extra money. With year round school; the option of having even a part time job is very slim because you only get short breaks in between. It’s something we DON’T NEED…
I don’t think year round school is a good idea. I mean towards the end of the school year, kids start to slack off, I would definately slack off without a break.
WE NEED A BREAK!
I am in a school with summer vacation. I am soo glad that I don’t have to go to year-round school. The problem with them is that if relatives come over and stay for a while they will have a hard time finding a good date if the vacations are all broken up. This summer I had so many relatives over at different times. It helped that I didn’t have school for the whole time they were here. Also, the summer vacation is something that most kids look forward too. I don’t know why people are saying that kids have trouble when they go back to school. I do just fine. I have been able to keep up my straight A’s for as long as I remember. Also, the time between summer vacation and school is when the kids can get new school supplies. Imagine if you had to go to school in the summer. It would be sooo hot. It would be fine in the class rooms if there was AC, but what happens if you have to walk to and from school or ride the bus. The bus gets hot if you don’t have AC.
Year long schools are JANK!!!
GO SUMMER VACATION!!!!!!!
First of all, I’m a MALAYSIAN, I don’t live in the US.
BUT, the school system here is just like(not absolutely but kinda) this year-round school. We don’t have summer breaks(duh, it’s summer 365.25 days here) but our system is like this. Our school-system is divided into 2 terms. And in each term, there’d be 1 or 2 weeks of school holiday. And the school year ends in around mid-November. So, if all the holidays are added up, maybe they’ll make up 3 months.
So, I agree(though I’m not American), that year-round schools are BETTER than normal schools. Just like the others have said before, 3 months of ABSOLUTELY no books around is ridiculous and can make you…forget what you’ve learn before that.
As a student, I would personally like year-round schooling, except for the fact that a lot of my friends go to different schools, and I know them through after-school theatre. We do a theatre program during the summer that is all day for six weeks- something I wouldn’t be able to participate in if I was in a year round school. I’m also excited about possibly getting an internship or summer job in the following summers, as well as participating in a theatre company that meets at night- which I wouldn’t be able to participate in if I had school the next day.
If used productively, summer vacation is an excellent things for students. The problem is the kids that don’t take advantage of it.
I live in Japan where kids only get 1 month off in the summer, 2 weeks off in the winter, and 2 weeks off in the spring. Even when they have these holidays, very few kids actually get to enjoy their breaks, because they usually get a ton of homework (unless it is spring vacation, because they would be between grades then), they still have to study for very difficult entrance exams for Jr. High, High school and college (which usually requires taking up all their free time with cram school), they still have school sports or clubs to participate in, or their parents will enroll them in extra classes to help them keep up with their studies.
I HATE it! Personally, I think 3 months at one time is too much, but kids need breaks and need time to explore other intrests like nature, earning a living (by helping Mom or Dad with their farm or business, working part time or babysitting their younger siblings) or taking part in religious or family activities. Their lives should not revolve around school and school only. We all need a break sometimes!
I went to a year-round school for a while, and they have much longer breaks for holidays. 3 weeks for winter break, 3 weeks for spring break, and a week for other holidays. So, it’s just so they don’t go 2 months without any education.
I had to go to a year round school when I was in elementary school, and it was awful. We only got 6 weeks summer vacation, and then we had to go back. There were always problems with air conditioning, water, and just about everything else you need to be satisfied, so some days were usually cancelled in the beginning of the year due to so many technical difficulties.
However, we got a lot more vacations, every 9 weeks we would get 3 weeks off, and usual vacations, such as spring break, were 3 weeks long, so it wasn’t so bad, and the teachers got a little bit more money in the end, but not too much.
Actually, if you’ve paid attention, the concept of year round schooling developed regionally. Traditionally, in places like the midwest, year round schooling was discouraged because it would interfere with childrens’ ability to farm. Since farming was the main from of business in the midwest, many parents opposed schooling their children year round because it would affect their family’s survival. A large summer vacation became the answer to this problem, because crops could still be maintained and children would be kept busy during the winter, Places like California, with yearly tropical climates, continued the concept of year round schooling because there was no issue with a short harvesting/plainting season. But now, with the mechanization of the farming industry, there really is no need for a large summer vacation. Besides, I think that students would appreciate more breaks during the school year, going from quarter to quarter with no real breaks is quite stressful.
I personally am sick of how many kids are in public school. A large part of the school day is spent in transition to another subject. Homeschooling or unschooling is way better. It takes less time (usually) to get through the same ammout of stuff, the kid gets to go at their own pace and then have the time they need (or want) to hang out with friends, take dance classes, have a job, or whatever because they don’t have to stress over homework. Also, homeschooling can be year-round and can be done while on vacation, too.
(I guess I have issues with the busy work, stupid rules, and “popular” people that public schools have. Stupidity in large quantities bugs me.)
A year-round school program is by far a better system for both the children and their parents. The children enjoy structure, being with their friends, and learning with constant reinforcement. After a 2 1/2 month straight vacation, it is difficult for children to get back into the momentum of school. The parents also enjoy less headache of how to occupy their children for such a long period of time. If vacation is for 2 weeks every other month, parents can organize different types of activities with less stress.
Teachers also can benefit from the momentum built in a year long program. They won’t have to waste time, snapping the children out of their “summer coma”.
And they can, also, enjoy the vacations during the course of the year.
Year round school doesn’t mean that you don’t get any breaks.
Like Jess said, kids get tons of small breaks, so in a way it’s equivalent to a three month break, just smaller and more frequent. I think it sounds nice.
Also, we forget so much of what we learned in those three months, it’s terrible. Some people in my Spanish class forgot how to say “who” and “people”. I forgot tons of alebra. And I have seen reports of people actually testing this, and it’s true. Kids just forget.
I live in England, and I definitely look forward to the summer holidays. I’m going into my last year of obligatory schooling, and out of all my experience, I enjoy a long summer holiday. It’s a chance to forget things for a few weeks and just go out with friends or go on holiday. All in all we get about 13 weeks holiday including easter, summer, christmas and half terms, and not including bank holidays etc. I like the school year how it is. Although I do think we should have more summer holiday than 6 weeks…
Whoever says year-round is good needs to check their common sense for viruses. It is ridiculous. My school is on their way towards year-round, and if it goes, I’m transferring schools. Some people want to be camp counselors and have to stay at camp for a really long time! Or they might go to camp for three weeks.
Also, summer homework is idiotic as well. The school actually made it a RULE that the high school teachers must give out some form of homework over the summer. I’m actually 8th grade, but I’m taking geometry and it was still more than 100 problems (not easy ones either). Just think about the freshman through seniors that have 6 or 7 classes to do homework for.
As a kid, I personally wish our town had year-round school. It’s not like you’re never getting a break, you get just as much as you get on summer break. The only thing is, they’re every 4 weeks or so, it’s much better than letting your brain stay inactive for 3 months then all the sudden going months at a time with limited breaks.
People are so close minded on things.
It’s not like the kids are in school 24/7.
Why do you think so many countries like Japan have smarter kids ?
I wish I lived there.
I think year round schools should be offered but not enforced. What is the matter with letting kids be kids. You are only a kid one time in your life. For some people, going to school is much harder than working a full time job.
I say, let kids be kids and let them enjoy the summer. This is what is wrong with education today. Too many new “ideas” and fads. Education was top notch thirty years ago. Suddenly, what worked well yesterday is no longer “fashionable”.
Having year round school is not fair to families in economic distress, so it should not be mandatory.
How can kids get summer jobs if there is no summer off? Growing up, summer jobs helped pay for school clothes and such in my family, which helped the whole family economically.
My daughters have a year-round school schedule and they love it! I do too and I was raised on a regular schedule. My children also had regular schedules at their first school. Here, they seem to get more school off throughout the year.
They wind up getting the entire month of July off during the summer and they go back to school without feeling like they missed out on anything.
IMO, the only way a child will feel like they are being short-changed (which they are not) is if a parent bad-mouths the schedule front of the child.
Kids that go year round don’t go to school more days than those with summers off. Their breaks are just scattered through out the school year. Although I look forward to summer as much as my kids do, I would love for them to have breaks throughout the school year, too. We get no real Spring Break here – just an occasional day off from Xmas to June. They get three days around Easter, but we always end up losing them b/c of snow make-up days. Until all our schools have AC, there will be no year round school. We also have a heavy tourist flow during the summer here, and the businesses need the HS students to work for them!
I don’t think I would care for year round schools. I’m in college now, but growing up in small town, rural Iowa, summers get pretty hot and sticky and we don’t have the money to air condition the whole school…on days when it’s too hot, I woudn’t be able to concentrate and focus on the task at hand.
I think that if we did something similar to what Australia did and got the 12+ weeks off and we could get some air conditioning then it wouldn’t be so bad. America is very vast paced and we don’t have the same ways that a lot of other countries do. I love my country, but I also think we could learn some from Australia, Canada and the UK. American’s are depressed and stressed, they rush to get everything done, spend more time with strangers then family, and don’t get the time off and vacations that are so needed. My dad hasn’t had a vacation in at least 6 years, he also makes very little money… not a good combination.
Seeing that this year-round schooling has nothing more to offer than your average schooling programme,i think a three months vacation does no harm.i mean,having a 3 months break from schools don’t affect your future,do they??Ultimately,everyone who is educated does get oppurtunities to succeed and lead a good life.
I’ve got three girls in three different schools (elem, middle, high). I think the year-round schools concept is a great idea. We don’t have year-round school, but I can see how it is beneficial in many ways: provides consistency thoughout the year (keeping everyone including parents on a schedule), time is not spent “reviewing” from the previous year due to an extended break. Also, for those children whose parents don’t provide them activities in the summer, there is less time for kids to get bored and unfocused. Of course there would be more breaks throughout the year which is nice because vacations can be spaced out more.
I’m all for year-round school. Three months is too long to go for a straight break. By the time the kids go back to school in the fall everyone is stir crazy and they’re out of practice, particularly in math. Kids need structure. A huge break is disruptive at all levels of development. It is also difficult for working parents to deal with. A few weeks here and there is a much better option. Besides, the summer is the worst time to be on vacation unless you’re going to Alaska or the Southern Hemisphere and nobody can afford to go on vacatin for three months anyway. A two week break is about perfect. Three months is about rediculous.
If a particular country has always place importance on education, then the students or pupils are very much in tune with that kind of system and they do not mind studying everyday with one day being the off day in a week and no holidays at all. They do not need to go to school on public holidays.
For a student who is used to having holidays long or short in between schooling sessions, he will be shocked and he will definitely think that he will have a burn out if he is to study in that kind of strict environment.
I have left school a long, long, long time ago. The first and second term holidays were roughly two weeks long. That is if I can remember correctly. For the third term, we had the whole of December. After leaving school, I studied harder because I had to think about my future. But life is not all about schooling and good results. Life can be unexpected.
I was on a year-around schedule when I was in elementary school. I can say that it was much nicer having a 4 week break during Christmas, a 3 week break during October, and 3 week break during March, and a 4 week break for the Summer. I don’t think many people realize how convenient it is.
I noticed alot of people saying that without summer break kids wouldn’t have time to be kids and play and relax. Well this isn’t the 50s folks. Parents don’t have the luxury of supervising their kids anymore and you can throw blame wherever you want, it’s a fact of life. If a kid wants to play around and have fun with other kids, school’s the place to do it.
A week at camp costs almost as much as a month’s rent, so you send your kid to camp for a week, if you can afford it or are broke enough to qualify to send them to poor kids’ camp. You go on vacation for two weeks maybe, if you have that much vacation time and can afford it. Guess what, you’ve still got two months left to figure out what to do with your kid while you work full time. The little ones spend their time in daycare- may as well be in school. The big ones spend their time in front of the TV or video game system or in a chat room or hanging out at the park smoking, having sex (yes, at the park) and doing drugs. None of those are wholesome fun summer activities and all of this time-wasting can easily be done any other time of the year.
Summer labor jobs are going to migrant “guest” workers because apparently someone thinks Americans don’t want those jobs and are too good to make their teenagers do it. Most volunteer work is limited to 18 and over, or at least 16 and over. The rest of your traditional teenage jobs, fast food, retail, grocery, are just as available the rest of the year as in the summer, if not moreso. Demand for these things don’t go up in the summer, but they do go up in the winter- when the kids are in school .Weird that.
Meanwhile, the kids are forgetting the skills they learned at school because they aren’t using them. Their internal clocks are getting all out of whack because there’s no reason for them to go to bed on time or get up at a decent hour and their parents are shelling out twice as much money as usual to keep them entertained (which means they have to work more, which means they can supervise them less, which means it costs more to entertain them and pay for their therapy when they realize they’re being ignored.)
I’ve always thought summer vacation was a crock. When I was a kid I hated it (even though I hated school too) and now that I have kids I hate it more.
i wanted to go to a year round school once, i heard each nine week, they have a two week break, and regular, thanksgiving break/christmas break.
Oh, really, people, who forgets things after a two and a half month (tops) summer vacation? Teachers refresh memories for a couple of class periods and everybody moves on.
Most of the US has a warm summer climate with cool winter. For me, it was always enough to be off for a week or two for Christmas to play in the snow (if there was snow). I would hate to be trapped in my house– or worse, at the babysitter’s– with diminished opportunities to play outside. Parents who can’t be home with their kids must make additional arrangements, which must be so much more of a pain to do four times a year than one.
Kids deserve those long breaks, too, when they don’t “have” to do anything. Sometimes the best vacation is one when nothing is done.
People, year-round school doesn’t necessarily mean that the students never have time off. They do get breaks it’s just not all at one time like traditional schools.
Wasn’t the purpose for long summer breaks to help the parents on the farm for harvest? I am surrounded by farms where I live and I don’t know many kids who help their parents to the extent they need almost 3 month off from school.
Besides, kids get bored after a few weeks once the initial idea of being on vacation wears off.
I think all year round school is a great idea because I think too many kids fall behind and have a tough time catching up and their grades and self-esteem suffer as a result.
Nothing wrong with having a few weeks off here and there, even for teachers. Too much time off causes one to settle and become unmotivated.
I don’t think going to school year round is necessarily bad, in fact some people like it the best, but I also think it is great to have summer break. Kid’s have needs (ok, wants) that they have to work for if they want, i.e.-a car, newest cell phone, iPod, ect…While school is in session, it’s hard to also have a job. It’s very easy to fall behind. So the summer break is great, they can work all summer, and save up some cash.
Also, Towards the end of the school year, kids homework grades tend to go down just a little bit. Because they are so tired of going to school every single day. I should know this from experience. The summer vacation gives them a break to unwind and relax, so next school year they can get back on track. I know if I went to school all year round, my grades would definitely suffer.
I wish year-round-school was in effect when I was growing-up. They still have 5 weeks of summer vacations and then 9 weeks on and 3 weeks off. So just when your getting sick of school you get 3 weeks off
)) What a Great Concept !
Being a teen myself, year round school sounds SOOOO BORING. Who would want to go to school year round, when you could have 3 whole months in a row to do what ever you want?! You get to go to the beach or on a cruise or whatever! I’m sorry I just wouldn’t be able to live with year round school. 3 weeks off at a time just isn’t enough. Nope nope.
I think that kids should be able to have 3 months in a row off. It is so much better for them and then they get so exicted about school again in the fall. They do much better!
Year round schools sound great at face value but it would take a long time for the American Public to embrace this concept (as shown in Mike’s stats of enrollment). The year round school would have to be forced upon us in order for us to try it in most cases. I know as a kid I went to honors school during the summer and it was fine, but that was for only 1 summer. I’d rather have my summers off as a kid and teacher. As a parent I’m all for year round school.
I am in 8th grade now and truthfully, I woulud love to have all-year-round school. Think about it. It runs all year BUT you get month vacations every 3 months. So you get a month-long Christmas Break, a month-long April Vacation, and a month-long Summer vacation. So you actually would get more vacation then you would get with regular 9-month-a-year schooling. And when it comes to moving you up a grade, they promote people in January, when they come back from Christmas Break. I think it is a great idea. Because we actually get MOREEE vacation than we would with 9 month schooling
Though I don’t think sending kids to school year-round is a good idea either (they need a break), I do agree that the current summer vacation is way too long. It should be cut back by about 4 weeks, ie kids start summer vacation at the end of July instead of the end of June.
I think all children need a break, it does not neccesarily have to be 3 months, but at least 2. parents need the break as well and so do teachers. i live in a small town and know almost everyone from every walk of life- teachers, students, and parents and my high school i graduated from started back like a month 1/2 early and got out last year 1 month late! so, needless to say the kids got about 2 months break. it isnt good for the economy of the town because kids love to swim and to pay to do things and parents need a break from shuttling or bussing kids to school!
I think year around school is the key to getting our education system back on track. While three months of freedom in the summer is great it has been proven that a child looses a lot of what they learned throughout the entire school year. The better choice is to go for nine weeks then alternate with three weeks off. I’m far beyond high school at this point, but when I start to have children I will put heavy consideration into this option instead of standard school. Just to keep the educational juices flowing.
My little brother was in year round for a couple of years, and he loved it. We calculated it, and he actually got more time off than we did. Sure he didn’t get the long, mind-numbing summer vacation, but every grading period, he got three weeks off, which is a lot if you think about it. School came for him in short easy to handle sections, instead of doing it all at once, he was able to pull away from it and take a breather. He was sad when he became a middle schooler because year round is only offered at the elementary school here.
I grew up going to traditionaly calendar schools, well we didn’t have an option of year round school. However, My child does attend a year round charter school. She knows no other schedule, so to her it does not matter. I prefere the year round schedule, because we get a 3 week break or track out every 9-10 weeks, except for summer in which we have a 5 week break. By this time, my child is already bored and is ready to go back and be with more friends. This year was much more boring because of the high prices of gas, and we just sat still, except for a 1 week vacation. For our Fall break we usually head towards the mts. here in NC, winter we remain home, because it is Christmas and Spring we begin heading towards the coast for a few days. Sure there are times when I wish we have another week or 2, but overall, we are happy with our year round calendar. Now I would never have her in our county schools…..not unless I wanted her to fail. This charter school has a great deal of parental support, and the teachers are supported by the parents. which is rare in traditionl or year round public school run by the county.
Thanks and have a nice great day
Long vacations are a vital for for kids to learn all those things that they don’t get taught in school.
i think they need a break in year round school like a longer break and not only kids will enjoy it as it said in this article. My daughter who is 17 still enjoy summer breaks. i think this is essential because it give the kids a break from education and not putting in school year round and i don’t think that will increase the marks the kids will get.
Year round schools aren’t that bad. What you fail to mention is that they get 1 month breaks. I rather do that then school for 7 straight months to be honest. HS wears you out and to spread everything out like that would be great.
Way to go, yet again, Yahoo! Answers blog. Making a biased statement seem like facts!
*slowly claps*
Some of the school systems I was in were over crowded. There was consideration of Split Days & Year Round School.
Split Days means you spend so many hours straight at school without Lunch, Recess, or breaks ( restroom, water fountain, passes to leave class they were not going to allow). You may think that’s not so bad but for some students that was going to be an hour walking to school or on the bus, followed by 8 hours of clss in a school without food or restroom breaks, followed by an hour walking home or on the bus. There are people that would have been looking at 1.5 hours travel + 8 hours in class + 1.5 hours travel = 11 hours away from home.
What was presented for Year Round School was that three or four seasons a year you would recieve a long vacation. The vacation times ended up looking 6+ weeks because they tended to overlap other vacations/holidays. [The projection was 4 week vacations 4 times a year, but holidays overlaped.]
From the point of view of the Students:
Currently, I am seeing schools with 6 week summer vacations, clearly NOT the 3 MONTH SUMMER vacation people picture. The summer has been shrinking over the decades in many schools. There are alot of problems that you run into as a result — every school I went to lacked a functional AC ( and had faulty or broken Heat) now just imagain yourself packed in a room built around the theory it would be holding 13 -16 well spaced out people but instead containing 28-46 touching or nearly touching people when the temps are ( atleast here) at the highest point they reach during the year, the bonus is you are not allowed to drink fluids. REMEMBER, SOME SCHOOLS STARTED IN JULY!
Last Decade, when this was a popular suggestion, it was not the students who cried out in protest against the Year Round School year. It was infact the PARENTS who would manage to crush this when brought to vote. Their objections were based on money and changeing their days. Parents did not want to spend money four times a year to have their children kept busy, put in programs, or babysat. They felt set in their ways with their work sceduals and vacation time.
After the Year Round School was shot down by Parents, there was another snag. The Split days reps lie about the length of the school day. They do this to sway the students and the teachers into believeing the students will be in school 4 hours with the teachers getting 8 hours work. Again, this did not please Parents who cannot care for their children while they are at work. It is not plausible for a student to cover all their subjects in High School within 4 hours. When Students have more then 4 hours of school,. the teachers either face not enough hours or too many hours of work.
With all the Schools I went to I have to say everything really depends on the School, School System, and Location. It may sound overly flexible but some communities have a “season” when all their work must be done, while other locations shouldn’t have school at all during the winter or summer, while there are farmer heavy areas where the students have to pitch in during certain points in the day, and then there was the place I lived where Hunting was the source of food, income… I believe I only had two peers out of all my classes on the first day of a hunting season.
Here’s the thing about year round school that most people are forgetting. Year round school has the same amount of days as the traditional school calendar. It just gives more breaks during the year.
I don’t call summer vacation vacation. Want to know why? Read this:
1) Social Studies – Chapters 2-12 I have to do 3 questions on each chapter and each question is 2 paragraphs.
2)S.S – Sculpture about indians
3) Reading a Diary – and voc. and packets and essay…etc.
know you know
I would hate being in a year round school. I know that it’s most likely better as far as education goes, since you’ll remember things a lot more, but it would just suck. Even with the three week breaks spread out, knowing that you have to go to school all year long would tug at the back of my mind and I’d want to kill something. :/
From the 5th grade to the 8th grade my district in school was year round (YEARS AGO). WE ALL HATED IT. It was hard for my parents to plan anything for the family, it was hard on me as a child being in a different “Track” than my other friends (we never got to see eachother at school) , the teachers hated it as well and it really didn’t make much of a difference on my education. Finally the school district got rid of it, I’m sure there were alot of complaints. I didn’t even know year round schools were still around.
I loved year round school as a child. Right when I was getting tired or worn out we had another vacation coming. I was very alert and the summer didn’t drag on. When I got to high school was when I first had summer break and by the end its really the pits you get bored and can’t wait to go back and see your friends! I would say it’s a positive for sure…
i dont want to go to year round because im not used to it but they get time off when we are in school so its ok
As a parent I would hate a year round school year. How would companies stay open if everyone wanted the same 3 weeks off in the summer. We live in Vermont , and don’t ski, why would I want my child to have so much time off when the weather is not good. When would they take swimming lessons? I make them do school work almost every day.
the childrens parents, along with the kids thierselves should sit down and think/talk about year round school, talk about pros/cons and would it really be beneficial, bottom line is it should be up to the families, NOt just to the parent, NOT just to the school but to the system as a whole.
My kids are home schooled and we follow a year round schedule. We take a 2 week break every 6 weeks and the entire time between Thanksgiving and the new year. What this does is give the kids a chance to recharge their batteries and get ready for a new 6 weeks. It allows them to take a break when they are starting to need one.
I can remember those days in public school where we dreamed of summer vacation. By the time it came we were so burned out for the year that summer vacation was a blessing. Why should our kids be that burned out. Don’t they deserve frequent breaks. Think about it they started school here on August 8th besides weekends and labor day the next vacation they get isn’t even a full week for Thanksgiving (our kids get out of school on the Wednesday before). Then they get barely 2 weeks for Christmas a month later. The next vacation they get is Easter which is usually directly followed by the yearly achievement tests. There is a relaxing break! Kid works their rear ends off all year and if they fail this stupidity they fail! How relaxing is that? Then the bliss of 3 months off to forget the second half of the year. What was the point! You have stressed out kids who have to be retaught.
Year round school kids don’t have to repeat the end of the year before. They have more breaks throughout the year and have less stress at the end of the year. They are more rested and can be more focused. A well rested child can retain a lot more information than a child who is functioning in burn out!
Here’s the problem with year-round schools: Funding. During the summer, the payrolls decrease and the facilities are not run at a full capacity. Therefore, costs decrease.
On the otherhand, year-round schools may be just what is needed to help boost scores and learning opportunities for the kids.
But again, people will have to be willing to fund it. But alas, these days, funding education is not the nation’s top priority,
Ugh..that sounds so cruel having kids going to school for so long like that without summer break! I’d probably die.Kids need summer break!
Some psychologists have postulated that a regular school year encourages our kids to think it is normal to get 3 months of nothing every year which translates to an adult that just yearns for time off. I think year round education sounds like a really good idea.
usualy during the summer we get really bored when theres nothing to do.but having school all year round ..i mean we would just get sick of it.we need some rest.. anyway in some countries we really need a summer break because it gets too hot to go to school and we all get really tired.
School should be year-round, and paid for only by those who have kids. There should be mandatory uniform dress codes as well, again, funded by parents. And no free lunches…that’s just another burden on taxpayers. If you can’t afford it, or don’t want to pay it, don’t…have…kids. Simple as that.
I am not your ATM.
I think it’s very unfair to have students go to a year round school,with out a parent vote.I used to be in elementary school last year,and I graduated from elementary.Now they’re making it a year round school, but my middle school is still 9 month.My sister will be attending elementary school.So her,and all the other children will miss out and a good quality education.
*Don’t report me for under age.I’ll report you for threatening a minor.
I had to take summer class in college for the first time this summer. I thought I was going to hate it, but in the end I found them to be much more enjoyable than the same classes on a regular schedule, and am planning on doing it again as much as possible. In any case, this translates to 3.5 months of school, 1 month break, 3.5 more months of school, 2 weeks on one side and 2 months on the other of a 1.5 month summer semester (depending on which summer semester I choose – there’s really two weeks off, two 6-week summer semesters, then two more weeks off, but I only take classes during one). So, in the end, I get about 3.5 months of breaks and 8.5 months of school, so I don’t mind taking classes year-round at all.
Many ppl say tons of bs such as kids shouldnt have vacation at all and that kids get bored over summer.
First of all this past summer i went to camp for a week then after i got back i was on vacation for a week then i started cross-country practice for the season which officially begins in mid august.
Schools also give some assignments over the summer- therefore you do some work.
Over the summer you might want to get a job if your parents don’t give you much spending money, gl getting one for 3 week vacations.
During the 9 months school year we have off for labor day, presidents day, yom kippur and a few other fairly unimportant holidays along with thanksgiving christmas and easter, plus u get off for conference days.
Kids get to look forward to breaks during the school eyar and then summer vacation, in a year round school its like: wow my 4th time of getting 2 weeks off……………….. i seem a bit excited.
Besides kids dont forget everything they learn, if it was a yearround school what are they goona do make u have math every day?
where i go to school i got math 85 minutes everyday for half the school year. If u put it for everyday more spread out u get shorter classes and longer classes help you spend more time learning instead of arriving at class gettign situated then leaving. So unless a year-round school has the same class everyday (which would be absurd due to the fact classes would be too short) kids will still forget some stuff but not an enormous amount even over a 2.5 months vacation.
I think it’s horrible to have kids go to school year round. Kids need long breaks! I would go CRAZY if i didn’t have a summer break!!!
I would consider year round school. But I have to say, I really like summer, it’s time just to relax, be carfree and reinvent our selfs.
I really love summer, and we still do get breaks in Winter and Spring.
Over all I’m going with the traditional summer, three weeks I’snt enough to refresh and recharge in the summer, and here summer is the only time that things are really going on.
Honestly, i would die if i had to go year round.
I barely can take the whole 10 months. Take it from a school “aged” student, the stress that is put on us is grueling and the 3 months vacation we get is the only way to relieve it.
Here in the Raleigh, NC area they are for all practical purposes mandatory. I have two children on a traditional schedule and one forced to go year-round. Our “choice” is an elementary school 20 miles away if I wanted the traditional schedule for my youngest.
The little one didn’t have time to go any any camps or to have a lot of time to take swim lessons etc at the pool. Everything will have to be orchestrated separately for him, even if I find some similar options in September for him.
Please don’t make up statistics about how much children forget over their summer breaks. Please only cite studies that prove something.
“Mandatory” year round is horrible for us. High schools don’t ever operate on year round for logistical reasons, there are too many classes to offer that can only be offered once, as well as athletics would not work well on a year round.
It’s only the kind of plan that looks good in operation or for those families who have kids really close in ages. It should only be an option that is chosen rather than forced.
Oh, and don’t move to Wake County, North Carolina!
My son attends year round school, and for me, I think that especially when they are younger, that a 3 month break will affect good study habits. Granted we still work with my son when he is on break, but its nothing like the structure that is in school.
This also can help the families if they are able to take advange of the budget assistance you can get. If you need day care, its more manageble to only have to pay for 3 weeks at a time, as opposed to 3 months. It psychologically easier to budget when it is spread out (granted the net affect is the same, but harder to save enough & resist spending if its 8 months down the road as opposed to an expense coming in the next 6 weeks or so). The choice of different tracks can help coincide with work schedules. If your job is seasonal, and busier in winter or summer, you can choose the track that allows your children to be off when you have more free time from work. Also this can help to take off season vacations when things/places are cheaper and less crowded. It also can help teachers budget to split up their pay the same way as the day care expenses. Also, since my son only has 3 weeks between the change in grades, I don’t feel the need to go out & get a whole new wardrobe before school starts, we do that over the course of the year (again to ease the budget strain of back to school)
There are advantages & disadvantages to both, depending on your family situation, but it really works for me. If more people identified how they might benefit, they might support it more. It is more efficient for the schools, and teachers. Allows more students to be taught with less space, and helps to alleviate overcrowding of classrooms where growth has outpaced new school construction.
I live in Las Vegas where this was a necessity in some areas, and after looking at the pro’s I don’t think I want to have my child in 9 month school.
There are many things about year round school that are not commonly known, such as that many of them have a Spring, Winter, Fall, and Summer break, each lasting about 3 weeks or longer.
I currently go to a public school, and I find that summer lasts far too long. We lose a lot of what we learned, and then we spend most of the first semester re-learning what we knew last year. A huge waste of time. We could get so much farther ahead with year-round school.
With year round school, typically you have plenty of holidays scattered throughout the year, rather than public schools which wear you out, you get a long break or a one day holiday, and then have you going again. It is very exhausting.
I think in general, with from what I’ve read about year-round schools, I would much prefer that system. You learn more and go farther without killing yourself doing it.
I think a break is necessary. However, year round schools get two week breaks every month or so, so it’s sort of like breaks all year round. Sometimes this works better with a parent’s schedule and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not all that bad. I’ve never been part of a year-round school, but I don’t think it’s really awful. They get breaks, too!!!
I was in a year round school and it was horrible. I was a pretty good student, but the whole system seemed pretty unstable. I remember being stressed out a lot for having to go through 3 months, then off, then stress about the first day again, and have to get used to the swing of things so often.
When I got into high school, and it went back to having a summer vacation, I loved it a lot more. It was nice to know I had to work hard for 10 months, get a break, and move on to the next grade. It made me feel like I had accomplished more.
well i know by experience that year round school is a very different experience
but i loved going back to school when the summer was kind of winding down. and also you get many breaks in the year. i think its very well balanced
There’s a reason why only 4% of publicly educated kids in the US go to school all year round. It’s necessary to have time away from school so kids can mature, and have a life outside of school.
In high school, many students choose to get jobs instead of waste their time. I believe that work experience will help students grow up. At least i think it helped me (managing money, time, being a good worker, learning new skills, etc). Summer vacation is a good idea for older students.
my cousins went to year round school in texas. i dont think that year round school is needed. you need some time to get away from stress from school
If i didin’t have Summer Vacation,
I would Go insane
O_O
Listen, school that’s all year round sounds horrible. Not just ’cause there isn’t summer..but ’cause there isn’t a break. I know there’s this whole thing about getting an education–maybe kids who go to school all year round have to do it for less years–but seriously, it’s torture. It isn’t any fun. It’s school; it’s almost work. We want our freedom, and we want our summer. We want vacations. That’s what most students, including myself, happen to think.
Hi Mike,
I agree with the third poster’s comment. Kid’s do get more time off with year round schooling. I came up with a year round education program in my head that would work really nicely. If you spread all the weeks of vacation out, you can get 1 week off at the end of every month and still a month worth of summer vacation. That includes however taking away 1 of the weeks from march break and christmas and spreading them out. That would give people a much better chance to go on winter trips to places like the rockies to go skiing.
I know that I definately would have liked year round schooling. Because going back to school and keeping myself entertained on those occasional long hot days was all I could thing about.
Anyways just my oppinion.
Of and by the way, here where I live, you don’t get off school until about June 26th so really it is only just over 2 months for summer break. (If you are still counting exams as school time.)
Bye Mike great research.
I just retired after teaching since 917, – and my husband also was a teacher, and currently my son and his wife are teacher. From the scattered posts I read, it was clear who was a KID (mis-spellings, ranting about TIME OFF) and who was an adult or parent (more reasoned thought). Year-round school is sometimes called 45-15 school; after each marking period, students get 3 weeks off. This is in addition to regular holidays,etc. Regionally, districts can plan to close the buildings in peak energy usage times 9 heat or AC. Tax payers save – although this means that ALL school must be climate-controlled year-round – which is healthier, cost-effective, reduces absenteeism, and contribute to better student achievement. Students who PASS their subjects get a vacation that is restorative,without being so long that it is pointless. Students who FAIL, or are struggling, can be retained for a portion of that time, be remediated, and turn to rejoin their classmates at the correct level. There is no “summer school” or “being kept back” – which is SELDOM good for the kids.
Will this take adjustment in communities to be functional, for students, and parents alike? Of course. Right now, we worry not only about the students IN school, but any law enforcement officer will tell you that the highest rates of young-person crime occur in after-school hours, or during vacations. I advocate a LONGER school day, as well as a longer school year. We run Social Services in-house for many of our kids – we feed them breakfast, lunch, snack, provide a Homework Haven (because studying at home is impossible), clubs, etc. When society as a WHOLE realizes how much our young people need what USED to be called a *school* – then we will see real growth in our young people. I completely understand the pressures that parents and guardians now face – the school as a community center replaces what the *church* used to be in Colonial times, and still is for some.
My daughter attends school in a district that limits Summer Vacation to 2months rather then the traditional 3. The 3rd month is split up into other breaks in the year.
I think this works best. 3 months off is a long time. kids loose good habits and their minds get off track. 2 months increases retention and still allows freedom of a true summer vacation.
The other pleasure of this is more breaks in the year. A short 1 week fall break near Halloween. A longer Spring Break. and a winter break for skiing in Jan.
Funding has nothing to do with year round schools. Teachers get paid year round and the facilities are maintained year round. True some lights are off and AC is not running but the cost of the school year is amortized across 12 months not 9.
Teachers moan and groan about funding yet they get 3+ months off a year and work less hours then most in the business world (School days generally are 6 hrs including lunch, while most business days are 8 working hours with a non paid lunch) True the teachers need to put in some extra hours to grade a test or paper but they have prep periods and even with a bit of OT put in far less hours then a businessman, Lawyer, Nurse, or what have you. Stop complaining about money!
i used to go to year round school and i hate it! it leaves families with no vacation time! it sucks!!!!!
yea i’ve been in year round school in this district since 7th grade.. last school year ended June 3rd and we went back to school July 28th. lame, but we get more and longer breaks during the year so its whatever.
To the parents that are complaining to the fact that there shouldn’t be a summer break at all because there child is obese, there is no reason Summer Break should be blamed. That’s the parents fault for not helping make the child intrested in fitness activites, or a healthier lifestyle. Summer Break is a perfect oppertunity to get out, get excersize, and enjoy the sunshine. It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s summer break, or short breaks throught the year, KIDS NEED BREAKS PEOPLE!!!! If there going to spend the rest of there life sitting at a desk working, (or at least a mojority will be), then why would we want that to be the case NOW AS WELL!!!! THEY ARE ONLY KIDS FOR A SHORT WHILE!!! LET THEM ENJOY IT!!!!
Also, by not giving any breaks, your not only depriving the parents, but also the teachers that work the rest of the year dealing with your diffucult children while your not there! They need the break too!!!! So to the selfish parents who are complaining about this, WHO THE **** DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?????????
My kids went to year round school during K-5. When it was time for middle school they hated the schedule.
During year round school they were able to have a break every 3 months and for a whole month they had 2 weeks where they could take “fun” classes or stay home, then the final week of the month of being out they totally stayed home.
The fun classes were like baking, running a business, swimming, camping…things that were age appropriate. The kids loved it. They had area businesses get involved and taught the kids careers that were out there.
Then they would go back to school after that month.
It worked out so well, that my kids are old enough to have their own children and said that they would definitely put their children back into that type of educational system.
summer vacation is one of the most important staples in the economy, not to mention it has been a tradition for the longest time. when the kids get out, it isnt even them we have to worry about, it is the money that they spend! when kids get out of school, where do they go to have fun? some might choose to stay home, but most go to the beach, stores, cities, or malls and spend money on anything they possibly can. many stores depend on summer vacation because it is such an important influence in the economy. taking that away would change everything for the busniess community.
People who have year-round school have better national test scores, better mental development, and more discipline than those who have two months off of school. The reason? They don’t have two months of downtime to forget everything they’ve learned. If you don’t use it, you lose it. If you learn something the day before summer vacation, you’re not going to remember it two months later when you get back into math class.
Plus, people who get school all year round have much longer breaks—a week or two for Christmas instead of three days, Memorial Day and Labor Day off, and more than a three-day weekend for Spring Break. I’d rather have year-round school than 180 days a year.
And I’m still in high school.
personally, i think kids need their personal time durring summer. school can aply a lot of pressure onto young teens, and small children, so, i think time off is needed. obviously no kids like to sit in a class room for 8 hours in the middle of july, or august, it’s much to hot out. even though, staying in school could be classified as more educational, students work practically year round, and deserve a long, and refreshing break!
Not a bad idea and im a kid! if it was like a boarding school that would make it better because more freedom and it would prepeare you for college
What most people don’t understand is that you get 3 weeks in fall, 3 weeks in winter, 3 weeks in spring and 3 weeks in summer. So if you wanted to go on vacation in october or whenever you could.. 3 months off is just to long the kids start forgetting what they have learned..
They’re kids. They have the rest of their lives to work year round. Summer Breaks are meant to be filled with Camp, sleepovers, playgrounds, and vacations.
Maybe going to school year round is a more efficient way to learn, but that’s not even really important until high school. There’s not going to be a huge difference between what the two schedules get accomplished during the 4th grade…
I’d love to go to a year-round school with 3 week breaks here and there. Having too long of a summer break is long and boring, although it gives some people time for a long vacation. I think it’s more efficient for learning because the teacher can spend less time reviewing all the material forgotten over the summer and focus on the new stuff. Also, many students feel tired of school towards the end of the year and can only think about summer vacation (causing them to not try as hard).
Year round doesnt really mean year round. My child goes to a year round school. Starts Aug 1st, 2 weeks off in October, December and April, last day of school is last day of May. So they still get two months off.
“I still disagree with year-round school. It breaks the tradition of summer time that kids enjoy time off. Kids have so much going on at school, and they want to be able to get away from those things rather than to be constantly worrying about it.”
Ok. The “Tradition” of summer breaks is only in place because a lot of kids used to be NEEDED to help on their family’s farm during the summer and early fall. The reason school starts in September is because that’s the end of our growing season in North America. No one just said “let’s give the poor kids a break.” It was more like “we can’t afford to let the kids learn all year, we HAVE to keep them home!”. Don’t take your summer for granted.
Also kids are under stress from schooling mostly because there is SO MUCH that teachers are supposed to teach in a very short period of time, and that stress is passed on to the kids. Instead of having only 9 months to learn an entire grade level’s worth of stuff, how much easier would it be if that material was spread out over a year? You might end up getting a whole month to write a paper, instead of two weeks, or getting more time to explore things you like, instead of just being taught to take the tests.
I’m all for year-round schooling. I think it better mimics the adult workplace (I don’t know any profession that gets summers off, including teachers, unless they are experienced enough to have all their lesson planning and organizing done in the first month of summer!). It also helps students retain knowledge instead of giving them 3 months to lose it, and establishes a better parent-school relationship since the parents won’t have a whole 3 months of wondering what next year’s school will have in store, and the school won’t lose touch with anyone who moves over the summer.
It’s a great idea; more schools should implement it now that we don’t have any reason to keep our kids home.
I’ve been to both traditional and year round schools and honestly I can’t remember one being better than the other. Where I live now there are a lot of elementary schools on the year-round schedule, but middle and high schools use the traditional schedule. I think that this a good solution. Everyone gets the month of July off, so family vacations are still possible in the summer, but the younger kids get much-needed short breaks during the year so they don’t get overwhelmed. For older kids I think the traditional schedule works best because they have more classes and more things to process, so I think the longer break is important. I also think they need more definition between their school years and it helps to prepare them for college.
Year round school is a misunderstood term. No American Public School students go to school more than 180 days out of 365 each year. 180 days, that’s it. How the school systems decide to schedule those days to make for more efficient use of their resources is really the issue.
I think year round schools are agreat idea. We did in when my kids were in elementary school. 9 weeks on 3 weeks off was the schedule. In the summer they got 6 weeks off and all of the traditional holiday breaks were observed.
I don’t think kids would enjoy that. Look at highschoolers, they work hard trying to pass with good grades and here, you’re proposing we do that all year long? I’ll pass, buddy.
now come on….. everyone needs a good break, kids just need to be kids! you really cant even dare to think of keeping them in school year round, no matter how long you have holidays or how many times! I think it is the WORST thing in the world! summer is a time to relax and have fun with there families. I think it is terrible that some schools want to take that away from them. i think on my opinion year round school is the dumbest worst thing in the world, besides all the other bad stuff going on.
Your blog about year round school makes it seem as though those who go to year round schools don’t get a break at all. When in fact they do, I went to a year round school and we would go for eight weeks and then get two weeks off. I liked it a lot better than the traditional school; I got more breaks, I felt better after a long break and I never had one day off, so it was easier to get started with classes again. My parents also liked the year round school because it was easier to find a babysitter for 2 weeks instead of 3 months and we had more vacation time during the year, instead of having to wait until summer to do anything.
No way, the 3 months teachers/kids have off makes driving a dream to work, until they go back.
I am currently in a school that is year round, and personally i hate it. I want a normal summer and when my friends are out having fun im in school.
I think year round school is a terrible idea. After 10 moths of work we deserve to have a nice long break, your not a kid forever, then when you get a job there will be no breaks, so I think we should be able to enjoy it as much as we can now. We are no less intellegent because of 3 months, it just depends on how hard you are willing to work. There are kids that couldn’t care less about doing well in school, even if they get the whole year-round education. I am an honor student in 11th grade and I think the break is very much needed. I think the ones that are for this are mainly adults who forgot what its like to be a kid.
I went to traditional schooling my entire life, and I have to say that the summer breaks are something amazing to look forward to. We also got 2 weeks in the winter, a half week in November, and 3 Fridays off, as well as half day’s with teachers training and whatnot.
While I see the benefits of year round schooling, and I think it is awesome that we have that option for people, I don’t agree that students that go to traditional schools lose all their knowledge over a three month break. I think the reviewing that teachers do in the end of August and beginning of September is time well spent. You can’t just say that if students go to year round schooling they won’t need any review. I’m sure after a month long break there are some things they have to go over again, and do that 4 times a year? That time adds up to probably the same amount.
It really just depends on a person’s personality… Some of us would do well with lots of small breaks.. some of us need that summer to crash, and relax.
Yes, adults work year round. But we’re not talking about adults. We’re talking about kids. And I think most people can honestly say they miss a lot of the ease of being a kid… the “being” a kid. Why in the world do we want everyone to grow up so fast? Being a grown up isn’t easy and if your childhood is really hard, it makes adulthood even more trying.
So… I guess my opinion is that having the option of year round schooling or traditional schooling is a good thing. Because we are all different. And so are our learning habits and retention abilities. We have to accommodate as many people as we can. And we have to stop rushing kids to grow up because they’re already growing up much to quickly, and that my friends, is horrific.
Personally, as a kid I would HATE year round school. I cheerish summer, I can tottaly block out all thoughts of education and really focus on LIVING and having FUN!
Well some people think kids don’t need three months in a row just to slack off, I’d like to point out that slacking off isn’t all we do. A lot of kids go to different camps during the summer. Camps are generally during the summer, so kids with year round school might not get to have that experience.
I go to school in Hawaii and All of the public schools are year round, they voted to make it like that a few years ago, it actually isn’t all that bad, there are a lot of little breaks instead of one long one, and there are also all of the teachers days and state hollidays, etc, etc, giving us lots of three day weekends!
I went to a year round school in 4th and 5th grade. Now mind you this was years ago, and where if you have never done it of course you think you will hate it but I will say I thought it was great. I used to go to school for nine weeks and then have three weeks off. It was so nice to be able to break up your time off. You were never on break long enough to get bored yet you retained everything you learned from the previous nine weeks so “reviewing” the previous year took one class per subject. It was great. My only complaint was when I went from primary school to junior high I didn’t really get a break because my junior high was not year round. The other great thing was taking vacations with the family. We could go anywhere and miss the vacation rush and the sky high prices that come with them. Not to mention you not only have a spring break but a winter, fall and summer too.
Kids should get a summer vaction kids go to school from 8am-3pm every monday-friday it is fair we get a break. Especially High School students they have to take regents and do all this terms it is fair someone gets a break the summer break should be like 4-5 months plus it aint even 3 months anymore is like 2 and 1/3
Okay, I would like to put in a comment, as an 8th grade student attending a non-year round school. I actually think year-round schools might be more efficient. You get three week vacays spread throughout the school year, and that means easier travel. I don’t know about the rest of the teens who can’t drive yet, but all I did this summer was lie around the house, babysit my little sister, and be generally bored.
Maybe it’s just me, but I actually like to learn and would prefer a year-round school
I have been to both year round school and regular school and I’ll take year round hands down. In regular school you get a 3 month break in the summer. The first month you’re all WOOHOO it’s break time and you’re having a good time. The second month it’s all woohoo, let’s go do all the stuff we did the first month all over again. By the third month, you’re all Christ I’m bored and can’t wait for school to start. The only time you can take a family vacation is in the summer.
When you’re on year round school, you go to school for 9 weeks and you’re off for 3 weeks plus you still get all the regular holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th, and all the other holidays. So you get a break during every season of the year. If you want to take a vacation and go skiing, fine take it during one of your winter 3 weeks off. You can take a vacation in fall, spring, summer and winter if you want. The school year doesn’t seem as long when you always know you have 3 weeks off coming up and you don’t waste so much time going over what you learned last year because you forgot it all during your 3 month break. If you’re old enough to work, that means you get to work full time and make more money for that 3 weeks.
i just finished uk secondary school we have only ever gotten six weeks off in the summer and that always ends up being too long 3 months oh my gosh
I was homeschooled for my entire childhood and my mother decided it would be best for me to go year round schooling. Never once got a summer break, and it SUCKED. While all my friends who went to school got months off, I would be happy with a few hours off. At least I had the comforts of my own home – many students who go to school don’t. With idiot school boards and our idiot government not willing to fix the education system (on top of the idiot liberals who enforce things like “No child left behind” which only dumbs down the education of our schools), what difference would three extra months of school make in a student’s life? Let them go out and have fun – it’s not like they’re are going to learn anything important if they sat in school over summer break.
In Australia (where I live) we go to school for about 10 weeks and have a two week holiday for three terms. Then, we go to school for about 5 weeks and have a 5-6 week holiday.
.
It works pretty well
Well they should do it like what my college does, give you 2 months you are free to use during any time of the year. I think students should have a little break.
I preferable scatter them throughout the year separately as 2 weeks just for vacationing and a couple times to just take extra naps:D.
I would like to defend year-round schools everywhere. I went to a year-round elementary school and I loved it. I got 2 months in the summer off, and the whole month of November off, and being a November baby, I got to go visit family and take trips for my birthday.
I also go to a modified year round high school. We get two months in the summer, and week breaks every 9 weeks. Its great for when you need a break when all of your friends from other schools are still in class, bored to tears, learning about something they won’t use in 5 years.
I hate the idea of year-round school. I think it would not necessarily make students improve that much. I prefer the idea of voluntary half day academic programs for those who choose. The subjects should be more like electives (e.g. nature study, Olympics) which indirectly improve reading or math.
Kids who are far behind would benefit from reading or math instruction, but not everyone needs it.
Well, I’ll put it this way….
You can beat me
You can stab me
You can shoot me
And you can RAPE me
But do NOT mess with my vacation.
I need that kind of break from all the people I have to deal with in these damned schools. I can’t deal with it.
Work is MUCH MUCH different.
While you often have to deal with the same people every day, it’s in much much smaller amounts.
You see them in a hallway, on break, or whatever, but don’t really have to deal with them more than 5-10 minutes, whereas in high school, We have to be in the same building, sharing the same space, and often be in the same room, with cliques of people who (For the most part) think that just becuase they are in the higher percentile of the income ladder, are the LEADERS AND MASTERS OF EVERYTHING!
Even sadder? Too many people follow them. It’s ridiculous
And this is done in periods of an hour and a half, and often you’ll find the people you try to avoid actually have most of your classes.
At work, you can just tell them “get lost, I have a job to do”…..
I also feel like a bit of a prisoner during school…
Thank god I don’t have much of it left..
I go to year round school. We get 2 months of summer and additional vacation time during the year. I don’t feel robbed at all.
I used to attend year round school from 3rd-6th grade and never had a problem with it. I attended the school in Colorado and they seperated each grade into four different groups called “tracks”. This meant that we had 9 weeks in school and then a 3 week break after that. Every 3 weeks a new track would get a vacation. I never felt like I was missing out on summer vacation because it felt like summer vacation all year round and there were never any boring days!
I am a kid and I get 2 monthes off in the summerI would never want to go year round, Being off for a little while helps you get your act together and get a fresh new start, almost everyone I know always has resolutions for the new year.
I would HATE year-round school–as a teacher. (I wouldn’t have liked it much as a kid, either.) Just like kids watch the calendar until the last day of school, teachers do, too, especially as the day approaches. We need that break if for nothing else than to get another job so we can make the money we need to carry us through the year on a teacher’s salary. We can come back in September refreshed and ready to conquer the year.
As a student, I really hate the idea of going year-round. Summer’s when I relax, away from heat, etc.
I guess it depends …becuase yeah u mite have to be yr long…but i dont think you’d be in school for 13 actual yrs right?
As child (preteen and younger) summer breaks got boring about half way into it. As bored as I was, I still feel that it was necessary to avoid burn out.
As a teenager, summer breaks were a blast. First kisses, first parties, first drinks, first joints…all things that occurred during summer breaks. In hindsight, although I loved the action of summer as a teenager, I would have been better off without it. At that age, you don’t relax during the summer, you run harder. Play all day and party all night. You don’t return to school refreshed, you return to school destroyed from three months of non-stop, round the clock partying. Then you have this notion that it shouldn’t end when school starts and you keep doing the same thing during the school year while screwing off classes.
So, I think traditional schedule is better for elementary and middle schoolers, but year around would be the better route for high school students. After all, they’re supposed to be preparing you for the real world in high school and in the real world, you don’t get three months off in the summer.
Ugh. Year-round school. Kids are far better off with 3 months of break, they need vacations too. Also, what would fast-food restaurants and local beaches do without high schoolers needing summer jobs?
Year round school would be fabulous for kids and parents alike. 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, We could take a mid year off season vacation and enjoy time together as a family. For those of you who think kids ‘need’ a 2 or 3 month break obviously have never lived with kids. My kids are clamoring to go back to school after about 2 weeks off. That’s what they know, that is their life for most of their waking hours. They actually enjoy it.
But I can see where a lot of activities would be curtailed. How would pools staff lifeguards in the summer? Preschools and non school families would still like to swim. Malls and such still need summer help. Maybe college kids/ I dunno. But I would vote a resounding yes to trying year round school.
The reason why most schools would have July/August off is because of the heat. Already in June, students come in from the playground drenched with sweat and dont want to learn because it is so hot. Air conditioning does not get used to often because of the cost. Air cond is shut off during the summer months. Saving money. I would prefer a year round school system, but I dont think it would benefit the students. Hawaii probably has it because that reason, its hot all year long so they have to deal with it. I also think it is good for a number of other reasosns mentioned. Work, being a kid, break from learning – kids come back refreshed, something to look forward to.
My son is headed to high school this year, and we sent him to summer school this year.
guess what – he loved it!
He realized very quickly that summer classes were more laid back, so it was a chance to get some of the hard stuff out of the way, also, he will have more electives available to him during the regular school year – for a kid who loves music and arts this is a big deal.
He still got a month off from school, which gave him time to chill at the lake and take a trip with his grandpa.. but not enough time to get bored and sit playing video games for hours on end
The expectation is that he will now go to school each summer until he graduates from college. This is his full time job.
Let me tell you, summer + no AC= PAIN!
I would rather have those months off when I can retreat to the coolest corner of the house or a swimming pool.
Three months of freedom?
What sort of blessed childhood did you have?
I never knew any kid that got three months of freedom during summer vacation.
Parents always ensured this.
Summer vacation is certainly much better than being in school but the word freedom certainly doesn’t apply.
As an elementary student, I went to a year-round school. Not having the long summer vacation was OK with me at the time, 1) because I had grown up on it, and 2) because I found the long winter/spring vacations very pleasurable.
However, in junior high and high school, I was on traditional schedule – and I remember wondering how I ever survived year-round schedule.
By middle school, a kid’s social skills are much more developed, and the school-work is harder. They are also much more impatient for the end of summer when coming back from spring break. In high school, it’s the same, but magnified.
I believe that while year-round is OK for elementary students, the traditional schedule is really much better for middle and high schoolers. The older students need the time to pursue hobbies, find themselves, and catch up with friends. School-work seems much harder these days (as opposed to one or two decades ago) and summer is a chance to not worry about all the work.
Sincerely,
Maca Day Mia
Well to be honest year round school isn’t as it sounds. It isn’t school, nonstop, no breaks. With year round school you might go a few days and have a break for a few days. It’s not as bad as it sounds because you do alternate. You still get the three month vacation, they just divide it up between twelve months instead of giving it to you all at once.
There is nothing more cruel and inhumane than depriving a child of summer vacation. Children NEED that time during the summer to have fun and recooperate, not to be in a hot, humid, smelly class-room watching the other kids play basketball in the lot next to the school. Seriously, have you ever been in a classroom full of sixth-graders who haven’t learned to wear deoderant or take daily showers yet? It’s about as close as you get to hell.
What is the point of having a lot more vacation time during the year if you don’t have it off with your friends? I believe that most year-round schoools are private, so what if all of your good friends are in public school and you’re the only one who has that day off? Would that be fun? I didn’t think so.
Another point, if you were to go to a private school there would be NO sense of closure at all. It would be work, work, work, work, work, work, more work, and even more work. There is NO better feeling in the world that stepping out of a dark, gloomy school into the bright sunlight of summer on the last day of school and thinking to yourself “It’s over, no joke. No homework, no projects, no school for 3 full months.” I could never imagine taking that away from a child.
I did browse through the answers above, and what I didnt see was any acknowledgement of WHY schools tradionally run on a 9 month system.
The intent was never to give kids a break, it wasnt to give them a chance to “be a kid” – it was to free them up to WORK on their family farms.
My opinion on year round school is that it should be done away with. I got my kids into the routine of getting up in the morning and doing the whole getting ready for school thing. That’s great, but that is for two months..and then their off for a month..so they have that month to sleep in and stay up late..after that month is up…you have to start all over again..it was terrible!! I hated it. Thank goodness we have moved into an area where there is no year round school. Finally, traditional! It’s a beautiful thing!!
I believe year round is more convenient.
I go to an Australian school, and the break is a welcome relief.
I don’t know how I could do three months, because I already get bored to death with the 6 weeks.
We get a two week break every three months, then a six week break during December – January.
But summer vacation sounds cool, and I’d like to try it some day..
ew that’s disgusting. it should be a federal offense to force children to stay in school year round with no summer vacation. that is disgusting
I really enjoy having my vacation (especialy being a teen.) but honestly I get sick of three long months I think I could handle 1-2 months without borring myself to death. I do not however think I could do year round school because it would push my stress levels to high.
I don’t think it’s neccesary for kids to stay in school year roud. True that they do get many more short breaks but 3 months without school is much better this way you can relax and just let go for a while and if your family’s going on vacation im pretty sure 2 weeks is not enough for most people. So I have nothing against year-round schools but I would much rather prefer the regular 3 month summer break.
what?
YEAR ROUND SCHOOOLS ARE THE BESSTT!
I, for one, believe that having school in the summer is an absurd idea. The summer is a time when students can release all the stress they acquired during the school year. Excess stress has shown through studies and personal experience to result in bad grades, therefore having school in the summer would harm the educational growth of any student. The website listed for the NAYRE shows a plan where there is about a 3 week break for fall, winter, spring, and summer. This is a horrible idea as short breaks every few weeks does not replace a summer vacation. If the school does this it will feel as if there is no transition from year to year. It is important to have an adequate transition from year to year as it provides students for enough time to recuperate. Finally, 3 weeks is not enough as many people like to take long vacations that may last more than a month, especially those involving visits to family in foreign countries. Plenty of students, myself included, don’t have the opportunity to see their grandparents every week or so as the normal child does, and can only visit them once every year or two. This makes the summer vacation an essential time of the year for many students, and it removing it would be an unethical and unintelligent decision for any school district.
My child attends year-round school, and we LOVE it! She gets 3 or 4 week breaks throughout the year, and she can enjoy some time off after every 9-10 weeks of school. When the next quarter starts, she’s ready to go back to school, and she hasn’t forgotten anything that she learned from the previous quarter. If she were out of school 10-12 weeks for one long summer break, I don’t think she’d like it as much (with no other big breaks). We travel during breaks, she goes to track out camps, she enjoys time at home – just like she would in the summer. If she was out of school all summer it would be very boring for her. It just seems more logical for my family and it fits better with parents who work.
it is never a 3 month break anymore anyway more like 2 months nowadays. Every school is slowly adjusting to the year round thing, winter and pring breaks are becoming longer and summer is gettting shorter
NO school shouldnt go to a year round schedule! I hav to write an essay in my English class and this blog thing really helped! THNX
I used to go to a year-round school. I went from 6th-8th grade, and I’m in 10th now. That was actually my favorite school, I loved the curriculum and the teachers knew what they were doing! They knew exactly how to transition from one quarter to the next. ‘Year-round’ is a misnomer, in the sense that the school year does actually have vacations (whereas the name implies that it doesn’t). The school I went to was 45-15, or nine school weeks and three vacation weeks. That’s a good schedule, because it means longer breaks, and that means longer vacations for spring break & winter break!
The only downfall, in my opinion, probably depended on the specific school I went to (I’m not sure if the rest had this). It was that we went to school from 9:30 to almost 4:00. It’s less class hours by a small margin, and I liked not getting up at 6:00 like I do now, but at the same time, I lived pretty far away from the school and didn’t get home until 5pm. Which, speaking as a teenager, is *really* lame. I still live an hour’s bus ride (with that crazy route) from my school, but at least now I get home at a decent hour… well, if 3:30 is all right.
Anyway, I’ve digressed to the point where I have no idea what I was talking about. I’ll just say that I’m also doing an essay in English (probably a radical distance from Malak) and I agree, this helped.
I’m 14 and I agree with year round schooling because we spend way too much time in the beginning of the school year reviewing what we learned in the previous year. Summer vacation is also WAY TOO LONG, there’s nothing to do all you do is sleep and do mostly non-educational things. It’s not like we wont have any breaks, we will. In the long run we will be grateful that we spent so much time in school, we can finish it earlier and get started on our careers. People don’t realize that college is around the corner and you need all the help you can get.
year round school would flippin make your brain EXPLODE!!!
i would hate school round.the school year is way to long. you can barly spend time with your family.
Summer benefits me because it is a time to work and make cash. And If you actually try in school, you remember more of the knowledge. But it would be cool to have 3 week breaks every two months
While in theory, it sounds great to have a break every six weeks or so, it won’t really be a complete break from school. While I do not attend a year round school, when I have a significant break, I always end up having homework. Unless teachers can guarantee there is absolutely no homework over the frequent breaks, this system should not be in place. Everyone needs a break with completely no work. While it may be just fine for elementary schoolers, when you’re in high school, most students want/need a job. They don’t have time during the school year because of homework, so thus they work during the summer. But during year-round school, summer work is out of the picture. How can teenagers pay for college and cars if they can’t work? If my school was to start such a system, I would seriously switch to a private school. It would just be absolutely awful for a high schooler, because work is so much more demanding at high school. A three week break may suffice for an eight-year old, but a high schooler needs the whole summer to recover from school. Not to mention do the loads of summer homework assigned for an AP course. In addition, I don’t understand how a teacher with children in another district would work at a year-round school. A lot of teachers are attracted to teaching because they get time off to spend with their children. That is one of the reasons why I’m considering the field, since I want to raise a family, too. But year-round school would defeat the purpose of that.
gfjtfigtf Answer: It’s important to understand that most students in year-round schools attend school the same number of days (usually 180) as students in traditional nine-month schools. So for most students, there is not the advantage of additional time in the classroom.
What’s different about year-round schools is that the days are arranged differently. Instead of the traditional nine months of school and long summer vacation, the students have several short vacations all through the year.
Summer programs such as youth camps suffer.
Many schools are older and do not have air conditioning.
There are chances of increase in the budget as well, because the management needs to spend more on the purchase and preparation of food for breakfast and lunch in the school.
I posted twice but now three times but this one has something i learned actually that Year Round School has its ups and downs.
Kids with 3 months of summer gets away from all tht Drama and Fights and Bulles…
WHO WANTS THT!!??
this goes out to all u geniuses that think we dont get enough work. us students spend about 7 and a half hours a day sitting in classes to come home and spend atleast another 2 hours on hw. that means 90 percent of our freaking lives are spent working. we basically miss our entire childhood and teenage years