November 25, 2013
Dear School Board: As a high school graduate I took the four core classes as well as some electives. I have learned that the electives such as languages, music and art balanced my schedule with light and heavy load classes. Elective classes such as languages help students enrich more knowledge so that they can experience the real world. Therefore, taking elective classes are essential to student’s education. I believe that making school days longer is a good method to fit elective classes in a student’s schedule. Also, having longer hours and more classes will make the students busy and help them to focus more in their schoolwork. In addition, to longer school hours the number of students getting involved in non-related school activity such as drugs, alcohol and early teenage pregnancy will decrease. Furthermore, some students might have to start working in the summer. For example, a student who lives in a low income household has to get a job to be able to support their family. The juniors who are about to become seniors will have to save money to be able to pay off college fees. As volunteering in a major portion of college applications, students can miss golden opportunities of getting an admission to their dream college if they have no volunteering hours. If students were to work and attend school it will be difficult to manage their grades and their job performance. But if the school hours are expanded then students can easily divide their time to focus on school work during the school year and make a commitment to their workplace during the summer. Finally, with this method parents who have low income jobs will not have to pay for summer school. The points that I have listed above will encourage students to take more elective classes during the school day than summer. Students will have more time in their school work and will be able to have a job or volunteer during the summer. Although, parents who can’t afford to send their children to summer school will have no burdens as they will take classes during the school year.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Schools should be year-round because of many factors like the fact that year-round schooling can generate strong feelings. A 1994 report, “Prisoners of Time,” argued that “a departure from the traditional school calendar could better meet the needs of contemporary society and result in increased student achievement.” Research has also shown that year-round schooling does have an effective on students. Reviews of existing literature on this subject generally contend that the achievement of children in year-round schools is as good as, or slightly better than, that of their peers in traditional schools (Palmer & Bemis, 1999; Kneese, 1996). Another example would be a study on six elementary schools where year-round schools posted overall-test-score increases that was higher than those of traditional schools (Kneese, 2000). Schools should also be year-round because the common belief is that after a long three-month summer break, students are forgetting what they learned the previous year and teachers are wasting valuable time trying to review everything from the previous year. A review of 39 studies that has been conducted showed that students test scores drop over summer vacation and that mathematics…
- 786 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
First of all, we all understand how hard working while in school can be. However, most students have to work for their personal expenses, including gas money to go to school, which is an expensive need nowadays. Even if the student is a part-time worker he will undoubtedly have a negative impact on his grades. Some students have late night jobs, notwithstanding their morning classes. As a consequence, the tired student won't learn as much as he could. Yet, many undergraduates would more than likely have to work still. It could be for some other reasons like family or personal needs, excluding gas money; but if it's provided, it will definitely help a lot. Hence, students will have enough money for their needs, more time to study, they will not have to work harder nor stress over it.…
- 563 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Over all public schools, there are only 4% that operate on a year round calendar. In that 4% there are 2 million students learning under a year round basis. Besides, year round schedules mitigate education loss from the previous school year. It also tarnishes the tradition of summer break, according to “Should You Give Up Summer Vacation?” by Laura Kelsey. Evidently the year round calendar is a prime solution to alter failing grades and help struggling students catch up. For instance, some students are overwhelmed with work and drama that occurs in school. With that in mind, year round schedules have more spread out recesses eradicating the overwhelming school environment. Simultaneously, year round calendars lessen memory loss between long breaks. Thus helping students retain and understand their curriculum. Lastly, studies show that American students are less proficient in academic topics.…
- 245 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
were satisfied with their child’s school experiences (Shields 9). For over 100 years, most schools have adhered to a traditional summer vacation schedule which stemmed from our primitive technological resources and advancements. However, as technological growth was made schooling throughout the year became more practical and thus the concept of a year-round schedule was introduced. With year-round schedules now becoming ever more prevalent and traditional schedules becoming slowly obsolete, a debate has sparked between the merits of the two. This debate has involved comparing the different advantages and disadvantages of the two schedules. While a traditional summer vacation may…
- 631 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
One of the major benefits of year-round school is that it aids students in a way that they can increase their overall grade. Students are less likely to forget what they have previously learned in school due to the lack of large breaks in the school year. Most importantly, there is more time. More time for school means more time can be devoted to each unit or section of material a teacher is covering. Less pressure to learn information in two weeks or even a month can help students apply their new knowledge to the long-term memory and gives more time for student to comprehend ideas in a more complex manor.…
- 209 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Would a year-round school schedule improve students’ academic performance? There are many debates on whether schools should extend their educational calendar to a full year. While year-round school schedules have their share of benefits, there are also negative outcomes. People often claim the more the better, but what really matters is the quality, not quantity, of education. Year-round schooling should not be organized because students may develop health issues, wouldn’t be prepared for college, and students may miss out on other opportunities during the summer.…
- 724 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
One set of data shows that year-round schooling helps parents, because they do not have to pay for child care for long periods of time (Ophiem, 1995). This reflects that with year round schooling families will not have to search or pay for child care during the summer. Furthermore, child care today is extremely expensive unless you have a family member willing to help you out. Also, another point brought to attention is how many families today are single parent families. “With year-round schooling, parents will not have societal pressures to find jobs that enable optimal vacation time or favorable summer hours so that they are home with their children while they are off from school” (O’Sullivan, 2013, p. 398). It is shown that year-round schooling will help parents to pursue jobs that will make them the most money, and parents will not have to worry about getting enough time off during the summers to be with their kids. Even with all of the benefits stated, some believe that year-round schooling is not the way to…
- 1394 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Many parents use summer activities as childcare while they are working. Such as summer camps. But when the students are out on break when these camps are not in session, parents would be forced to find other child care at a costly price (“Year Round Schools Pros and Cons”). Year round schooling could also interfere with these camps. So students would not be able to attend camps such as boy scouts, girl scouts, and enrichment camps that they may use in their future lives because they would be in school. Another problem is that parents and families reject the year-round schooling and the schools lose the cooperation of the families. Year round schooling also makes it difficult to plan summer vacations or even to find family time. The students must constantly be worrying about homework after school and also want to hang out with friends. This causes them to spend less and less time with their parents and siblings. This family time is very important for the student and the families health. Students need the support and guidance of their family to stay on the right track and do the right things. Lots of family time comes during summer break. When the students don’t have to worry about homework and can hang out with their friends during the day and then spend time with their families at night ("Year-Round School Pros and Cons."). If we take away this summer break students and family would not be spending enough quality family time together without missing school and this is not good for their well-being or their…
- 1117 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Summer breaks can cause “summer slide” which is the decline of academic skills and knowledge over a long vacation. This shows that going to year-round school won’t make you forget over a long vacation. This also shows that if you don’t forget over a long vacation that you can improve your academic skills since you don’t have long breaks. All in all year-round schooling can improve a student’s skills and knowledge.…
- 342 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Many great things are to come from high school classes beginning and ending later in the day would benefit teenagers in high school. By making this change a lot of teenagers would be doing better school work, not falling asleep in class, and being productive with school later in the evening. Being able to come to school, and not being tired plays a big part in there academic achievements. Coming to school and having the energy will help many young teens and young adults with there school work. May get their grades to were they need to be.…
- 540 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The traditional school schedule is out-dated. Summer vacation finds its roots in farm life. In years past, children would attend school in the months that parents could spare their help. When school let out for the summer, many students would trade in their formal education for one more practical, yet just as important. The schedule made sense then, but fast-forward to today’s society. Less families farm and the ones that do don’t rely as heavily on manpower, especially their children. Those who oppose year round schooling argue that summer camps and family vacations are an important part of growing up and would be missed if summer vacation were done away with (“Leave Those Kids Alone: The Case For Long Summer…
- 1189 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
To begin, with more time in class students have much more time in class to ask questions. In class with only having 49 minutes teachers do not have enough time in class to get through everything they need to and still answer students questions. Asking questions is a important part in the learning process and is one of the key ways to learn. Therefore a 6 hour block will improve learning. Also, a 6 hour block will improve students grades. EJMHS students do not have the best grades. In fact this year on the NWEA testing there was almost a 20 point difference in understanding reading, and reading. This is a big issue. Students need more time in class to learn more. They do not have enough time in class to learn as much as they can and sometimes they are quizzed on subjectsthey haven't learned enough of. If students are able to have more time in class students will be able to take more in during class and be able to keep up. It is also hard to keep up at the pace that some of the teachers are going at now. Sometimes students end up just writing down the shorthand of what the teacher says and they don't ask questions on what they are confused on. Students need to be able to ask questions, if teachers are going 100 miles per hour in class the students are more focused on writing down what the…
- 1095 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Year-round schooling is a new method of education. It has been developed to help students achieve higher grades, and have a better learning experience. The basis around this is to eliminate the alleged “summer learning loss.” The hope is that students will retain more information without having such a long break. The number of school days would stay the same, yet there would be more frequent, shorter breaks throughout the year. Although the predicted results of YRE (year round education) are highly probable and justifiable, the regular schooling system is the better option. The year-round system is likely to create more problems than benefits for the students, parents and educators. Consequences of the new system include lack freedom for families to use the summer holiday to their personal preferences, excessive expenses for the government, school boards and parents, and a greater chance for students to fall behind. All these consequences would just create more stress on everyone involved. Surveys have stated that the majority of the population like the school year the way it is traditionally.(insert site about survey) Why should we change a system that has been in place and running smoothly for a long time, for a new system with the potential to cause greater problems in the future and that may or may not help students?…
- 1131 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Without a doubt, having an extended year-round school solves the problems of traditional schooling. Students do not have the burden of remembering of all the information learned over the prior school year over the long break. Changing will also allow students to come into the next grade refreshed and ready. The…
- 557 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Moreover, having students stay in school for more days can help the school meet its needs. A better explanation would be schools would have no problems, economically. To prove the point, students buy snacks, lunch, parking, and materials. Students don't realize how much they help the school pay its bills such as diesel, supplies, and utility payments. Having a four day school week can increase the…
- 501 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays