2009-05-11 Year Round School

Year round schooling seems to be gaining popularity. Thankfully there has been no suggestion of doing this in our local districts. When I recently heard of the plans to increase the number of year round schools in the Chicago Public School District I wondered if this trend might come our direction, possibly due to the flawed nature of No Child Left Behind requiring districts to attempt the impossible.

I am firmly opposed to such a schedule change for several reasons. Kids only get the chance to be a kid once. Children are not robots. They are young people who can benefit from long breaks from formal schooling to recharge and have different experiences. Their teachers likely expected similar breaks when choosing this profession.

Many of our schools lack air conditioning, which means it is crazy to have students attend and teachers teach during the hottest days of the year. In fact, we are doing that already with school starting on August 20 this year. The first day of school in this climate for schools that do not have air conditioning would be best pushed back to after Labor Day.

Studies have been inconclusive as to whether there are academic benefits to year round schooling. Even if all studies were to show that students had higher test scores with several shorter breaks throughout the year instead of a longer summer break, I contend that there are other factors in childhood that are important that are independent of scoring highly on academic achievement tests. Some form of summer school should be readily available, but only for those who want or need it. School should not be used as a way to keep kids from getting bored or from getting into trouble.

Summer is a great time for kids to pursue all kinds of activities, to relax, to read for pleasure instead of homework, and to hang out with friends, all without worrying about daily homework and school schedules. The days are longer and it is a good time of year to stay up later and sleep in for those who can.

In my own family we find that it’s hard to squeeze in all the summer activities we want to do as a family and as individuals – a vacation and a local weekend trip, Bible School, swimming, day trips, summer festivals, picnics, a variety of camps and a mission trip. None of these things would make much sense to do at another time of year when the weather here is not conducive to it. There is so little good weather in northern Illinois for outdoor activities that it would be a downright shame to have children sitting in classrooms during a majority of those days.

Year round schools use a variety of scheduling techniques and frequently incorporate the same number of days in the school year that we have now, just spread out differently with breaks interspersed throughout the year. I’d argue that having extra breaks during cold weather times would not make up for the lack of a longer break in summer. These schedules may cause issues for families if their children wind up on different schedules, or if the people they carpool with do, and for extra-curriculars that have events with other districts including band, sports, and many other student groups. It would also be a huge issue for those organizations that provide activities during times that kids are not in school such as the YMCA, park district, outdoor pools, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. Many of these depend on parent volunteers and teen workers.

Our students are under tremendous pressure during the school year. Many high school students already have the additional demand of summer homework, yet they still enjoy the break from attending classes all day. Many use this chance to do some volunteering, to pursue other interests, and to work summer jobs.

Some would argue that we need to go this route to keep up with the world. In the five years my children have been attending Waubonsie Valley High School I have seen some remarkable high school students. I have been very impressed with what these students are doing and I think that the opportunity is already there for any interested student to be well-prepared to compete successfully in the modern-day world.