The importance of school breaks
Traditional school calendar vs a Balanced school calendar (via screenflex.com)
October 27, 2023 Nicholas Aw-Yang | Editor
We’re all familiar with the traditional school calendar that comprises long periods of learning, scattered holiday breaks and a long summer. During these extended periods of work time, stress levels can build greatly and wear students out.
According to theedadvocate.org, the traditional school calendar was designed for students to tend to crops on their family farm during crucial months. Now that the majority of children do not work on farms, a new school schedule is needed.
Schools all around America are already starting to implement a system known as “Year Round School.” At first glance, this approach seems like it takes much needed time off away from students. However, this is anything but true. Year round schools spread breaks all around the calendar, giving students frequent time off to decompress. This schedule has been proven to significantly decrease dropout rates. Also stated in theedadvocate.org, “The national dropout rate is 5 percent, while the dropout rate for year round school students is just 2 percent.” Year round schools more than halve the dropout rate, proving that students greatly benefit from the extra breaktime.
According to a study by the University of Rhode Island, year round students perform better on standardized tests than their counterparts. This is because students retain their knowledge from the previous year instead of falling victim to the “Summer Slide”. The Summer Slide is the event in which students forget what they’ve learned in school over the long summer break.
In a poll sent to WCHS advisory classes in October, the majority of students would rather adopt a year round (balanced calendar) than a traditional one. With 75 respondents, only about 38% of students voted in favor of the widely used standard calendar while the rest voted for the balanced calendar.
Year round school reduces the amount of information forgotten over the summer by using about a month of summertime to give students extra time off around the year. Without the hassle of the Summer Slide, teachers have more time to teach the current year’s curriculum instead of reteaching old lessons. This gives students time to learn the material instead of having to take it in all at once.
In conclusion, year round school proves beneficial to both students and teachers in many ways and should replace the outdated and inconvenient traditional school calendar.