In my opinion, I go by the argument that students should be in a year-round school system that has more breaks throughout the year than a long summer break. The basis of my argument is largely on the academic performance than on cultural and social concerns.
Annotated Bibliography
Nair, Sindhu. Should American Schools Go Year Round? Teach Hub, 2012. <http://www.teachhub.com/should-american-schools-go-year-round>.
The author here is concerned about the lasting effects that year-round education calendar will have on both the families and the communities if implemented. The author is also concerned by the changes that year-round students will have on patterns of operations, public service programs, and recreational activities. The best part of the article is where the author brings out the pros and cons involving both the year-round and the traditional long summer break. One important point in the article is that of the academic reasons to support the year-round system. According to the article, the system improves the overall performance compared to the traditional one with an example of Japan whose schools uses the year-round system and perform better than America. Although the author was able to provide some of the critics to the system, but I find proposing arguments to be stronger than the opposing ones.
Pearson, Amy. Year-Round School Schedules. Seattle: Hearst Seattle Media, 2018. <http://education.seattlepi.com/yearround-school-advantages-disadvantages-2521.html>.
Just like in the first article by Nair, the author of this article, Pearson weighs the two systems of education by distinguishing between their advantages and drawbacks. The author’s main focus was on the manner in which students perform in each of the two systems, and indeed the author cited that a year-round system is a recipe for high performance. The author here pointed out four major points of debate: frequent breaks; effects on budget; burnout; and academic achievement. I liked how the author described the views of the advocates of the year-round system who in this article brought out a more justifiable argument than the critics. The critics just concentrated more on social and family times than on academic performance which is the main reason for education. The article that students would have some time with their families during the frequent breaks but with an added advantage of high performance.
Outline
I am in strong support of a year-round school system with more breaks throughout the year than the traditional long summer break. To me, the effectiveness of an educational program or an education system is measured by the performance of students. Although I accept that students also should have time with their families, I think the families would even be prouder of seeing a better and improved performance of their children in school. I have focused mainly on the effects of the long-term break and the short-term break on the performance of students. According to Pearson, a majority of the students are more likely to forget their crucial learning materials while on long-term summer break than those in short breaks (Pearson). The bigger issue is when the students return to classes after long summer breaks, teachers spend most of their time on fall review because a majority would have forgotten their course progress.
On school and family budget considerations, I think a year-round education system is advantageous to students who come from less privileged backgrounds who might not be having the financial muscles to explore the country or the world for vacation (Nair). It also ensures that school resources are used effectively throughout the year. But critics have cited expensive short-term childcare solutions brought about by frequent time off work as a burden. I concur that getting frequent time off work to have family times can be costly, but it can be planned well. For instance, if there are five breaks of 3 weeks, as a family the parents can decide to cut the cost by skipping three and having two-time off work. Frequent breaks are also efficient for student and teacher recovery especially when they feel burnout which also boosts concentration. Therefore, my desired call to action is for the education department to consider the academic benefits of a year-round system and rollout to schools’ calendar.
Work Cited
Nair, Sindhu. Should American Schools Go Year Round? Teach Hub, 2012. <http://www.teachhub.com/should-american-schools-go-year-round>.
Pearson, Amy. Year-Round School Schedules. Seattle: Hearst Seattle Media, 2018. <http://education.seattlepi.com/yearround-school-advantages-disadvantages-2521.html>
