Year-Round School?
Summer vacation. For some, a golden paradise away from school. But, for others, summer vacation is unheard of and never spoken of. Why, most of us wonder? This golden paradise is not in the picture for most kids because they attend school year round, and only take two or three week breaks. Some of us that are lucky enough to receive a summer vacation would think to ourselves quickly that year round school would be miserable, but for others, it is just the right kind of structure.
As with any issue like this, there are many pros and cons. Pros. The positive side of things. There are several pros of year round schooling. First, it definitely benefits the students. Instead of having to review all the information acquired in the previous year, it is retained because there is only a short break, rather than a long one.
With this in mind, our educators come into play. They must think about this. If students are able to retain more information, less reteaching would be required. The end result would be more new and interesting information being taught. Secondly, this pro benefits the parents. If children are in school for the majority of the year, the parents do not have to worry about private babysitters and childcare expenses.
And lastly, families are the main focus, as with anything. If kids are in school for the better part of the year, long, expensive vacations would be virtually impossible. But, this would also result in shorter vacations for families. Shorter vacations mean less money spent and more family time in the long run. As you can see, there are many pros that can definitely convince anyone to believe in year round education. Cons.
The negative side of things. Just as with anything in life, there are the not so good parts. The negative things. First, the school is affected greatly. If students attend school year round, The maintenance costs will be much higher. The school would have to pay for extra air conditioning and to keep up with the premises, to name a few.
Secondly, students will not be able to participate in summer camps. This will not only affect the camps, but the students as well. The camps are going to lose a lot of money without the revenue of a regular summer. They may not even be able to stay open. Believe it or not, students will be affected also.
Many students enjoy and love these camps, and for some, it would disappoint them greatly to not be able to go. This is the one thing they look forward to, and by promoting year round school, we are taking it away. And finally, we have to think about the key ingredient in this recipe. The teachers. Out of everyone, the teachers are affected the most. When it comes time for the break, the teachers will have to clean up everything in their room.
Plus, they are in the mindset when they come back that they will have to reteach everything they have already taught. The teachers do not realize that their students are able to retain what they learned because of the shorter break. This means that the teachers will be reviewing more than necessary and the students are not able to learn more things and expand their knowledge. Year round school provides many benefits, as well as many roadblocks. The positive and negative sides of year round school just have to be examined extremely carefully to determine the best choice for the students of our school system.
