Is Summer Break Too Long? June 29, 2009
Posted by Jacky in School Stuff.Tags: beginning, break, distribute, it, learn, learning, long, loss, next, review, school, shorten, spring, summer, too, winter, year
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For every school year, there’s a summer break. A really, really long summer break.
Every school year, students get back to school, review everything they learned the previous year for the first week or three, and then start learning new material. And then of course, is the usual panic in the first month or so that you’ve forgotten everything that you’ve ever learned. Without all that wasted time and effort, wouldn’t school be a lot more productive?
I realize that it sounds like I’m saying that there shouldn’t be summer break at all, but that’s not the point I’m trying to get across here. I think a 3-month summer break is a little too long, especially when no other break during the school year exceeds 2 weeks in length. While it’s a great time for easily-stressed students to wind down for the year, it’s also a time for students to forget everything.
We Don’t Need It Anymore!
When you look back at the history of summer break, it’s kind of obsolete in today’s society. The first motivation for implementing the modern summer break was to prevent students from going insane from studying too much. Now, I don’t know about what you think, but it seems to me that kids nowadays are already pretty crazy even with summer break, so taking a month away probably won’t do much permanent mental harm. I think the only source of mental harm to the kids will be from all the drugs that they do over the course of the school year.
People say all the time that summer break is meant for those involved in agriculture, but I don’t buy that. Summer break is right in between spring planting and fall harvest, making it possibly one of the least useful times for farmers to take a break from school. Also, when only 3% of Americans are involved in agriculture now, the argument doesn’t make much sense anymore.
The Month of Review
Summer break is fun and all, but the consequences of taking such an extended break are apparent when students return to school. Since the majority of students don’t take classes over the summer, a lot of knowledge gained over the previous school year is lost. Teachers spend at least the first month or so of class reviewing almost everything taught the previous year before launching into new material. I find something wrong with taking a class just so you can go over everything the next year.
Spread the Days
I’m not saying that summer break needs to be discarded altogether, I just think it should be shortened by a month or so, and then that month of vacation time can be made up during winter and spring break. I think that would be better than the lame excuse for winter and spring break that we get now. A month of winter break, a month of spring break, and a month of summer break (or something similar) would be, in my opinion, a superior school year. There will be more days of school, but it won’t feel like it since the breaks are evenly spaced out and actually long enough for people to do stuff.
3 months of summer break is probably too much. The majority of people probably don’t do anything for 50% of the break, so why not cut it out and distribute the extra time amongst the other two seasonal breaks? Am I crazy for thinking this, or is it a better way to schedule the school year? Leave your thoughts in the comments! ↓
Jacky, normally I agree with you, but this time you conflict with my personal interests. And, as you probably know by now, that means that, in my eyes, you can go to hell now.
I feel a further explanation is warranted. As you know, I’m in a band (click my name). When you’re in a band and you’re trying to be moderately successful, school is your worst enemy. Every minute I’m stuck listening to a drawn out explanation of a concept I already understand is time my band could be practicing. Summer break is the only real time where we can have multiple practices a week and plan shows without having to worry about school-based conflicts.
But what you were able to rehearse during a longer winter and spring break? It might even help you attract new audiences since you’ll have shows all throughout the year.
The problem is people are gone at different times throughout the breaks. So the longer the break, the more of a time where we are all here. I’d rather have one break where we can actually all be here twice than multiple ones where some of us are gone. I understand your opinion, but don’t try to say my particular situation is invalid. I know more about it than you. The problem with your argument is that sure, this schedule would work great for you, but changing it would mess things up for other people.
I’m not saying that your situation is invalid, just that perhaps you won’t have to sacrifice your band completely.
Every change will benefit some but hurt others; there’s absolutely no way to please everyone, it’s the basic premise of compromising. But the question is, how do we decide what takes precedent over what? At this point, it really can’t be argued that an altered school schedule will benefit the nation academically. Just look to countries like Japan, China, and India which all implement extended school years and are surpassing the US in science and mathematics. So then we’re left with a decision: should we expand the school year for academic advantages at the cost of of extra-curricular activities, or should we uphold the status quo?
It’s all a matter of priorities. An expanded school year will have advantages beyond academic: if students are able to keep in touch with counselors and other adults for more time during the year, then the chances of them getting involved in drugs, gangs, etc. will be reduced. Not to mention, they will lack the time to involve themselves in such activities in the first place, especially if tighter standards are developed.
If our current educational system continues down the road otherwise known as the status quo, this country will soon find itself far, perhaps irreparably far, behind other countries when it comes to the education of our youth. With an altered schedule, extra-curricular activities won’t have to be abandoned altogether, which (perhaps) makes it an acceptable compromise: it’s keeping the position of the US as a world superpower but sacrificing the free time of the children.
Again, it all comes down to personal priorities. Everyone has a different opinion from their different backgrounds or the different activities they are a part of. The question is, which sacrifices are you willing to make?