School Without Summer Break… Will It Break Students?

The debate over if school should be year-round is non-stop. Many feel students would learn way more if they were at school year round, but others feel kids learn enough and at a comfortable rate. If we didn’t have breaks students would break down from the stress school can sometimes bring.

More Than 180 Days

Many are familiar with year-round school from China. Some saying they have the best educational program due to the fact that they go to school year-round. Students in China don’t get summer vacation like we do but they do get weekends off. But that doesn’t mean the studying stops. China Daily a website all about China’s educational program said students spend 12 hours in the classroom and have homework every night. Their parents, say they “don’t allow them to play as it means fewer studies”. Shantel Deng a student at CMS who is pro year-round school, says students will “…Consume more information that they’ve learned”. She also states that a long summer break is bad for kids, saying, “A long break can mean more time to forget skills.” Year-round school may even be “easier on kids if we had more short term breaks”, Shantel added. She feels kids who may not do well in school now will have more time to increase their grades and improve their behavior.

Academics Takes Its Toll

On the other hand school should not be year-round. The stress from academics alone takes a pretty big toll on kids. As an online debate from Debate.org stated, “breaks give kids freedom and may give kids independence” which helps us build to become more responsible people who can make positive decisions on our free time. Sooner or later, the performance of students would decrease as they would feel over-worked. The Chinese Youth and Children research surveyed 2,500 students and the results revealed that most of them are “unhappy from the pressure of their parents and teachers” wanting them to study hard. The students wouldn’t be the only ones feeling all the stress- the teachers would too, grading all the papers and trying to make sure that their students are being successful. Even teachers need a break.

Jeremiah Banks, another student, said he enjoys the breaks he gets to have over summer because he gets to spend time with family and friends. He also added that class is sometimes boring. “You just sit there, there isn’t anything fun,” he explains. Kids wouldn’t enjoy school anymore if they knew they wouldn’t have a break to look forward to. School stresses kids out very easily from the grades to the peers around them. Those who don’t get along with others or kids who get bullied would have to be around their bullies longer.

Year-round school would mentally and emotionally break kids down. Everyone needs a long vacation from work or from each other. It regroups us, and when kids come back they are already hungry for more knowledge.

Ella Green

“Are Year-round Schools a Good Idea That Should Be Adopted by Private and Public Schools?” Are Year-round Schools a Good Idea That Should Be Adopted by Private and Public Schools? Web. 08 Jan. 2016.

Bank, Jeremiah. Personal interview. 7 January 2016.

Deng, Shantel. Personal interview. 7 January 2016.