Essay Sample on The Effects of Year-Round Education: Good and Bad

Education is a crucial part in the development of a young mind, but to achieve this, children must learn how to practice initiative, responsibility, and critical thinking. This is mainly done through a public school system provided by the government, but this system may vary from place to place. Because of these differences, debates arise on if we should stay in the traditional school system or transfer to a more modern system called the “year-round education” system. Through this essay, the pros and cons will be looked at and discussed to determine the author’s opinion which is located in the conclusion.

To begin, what is year round school? Zubrzycki (2015) defines the year-round school system to be, “...a single summer break [which] is swapped out for a series of shorter breaks throughout the year...” The year-round education school system, or YRE, is the “latest innovation to arrive at the scene” (Ballinger, 1987). But YRE isn’t new, it’s been around as early as 1912, so how is it an innovation? Well, to answer this question, here are some of the more prominent pro arguments of YRE that people bring into view. These include: higher academic average, improvement in student competency, potential increase in teacher salary, less cramming of information to be taught, spread out schedule, less review, constant routine for special needs children, cheaper capital outlay, and the catching up of US schools to other countries (Ballinger, 1987; Dessoff, 2011; Glines, 2011; O’dell, 1997; Wehmhoefer, 1968).

We’ve already seen through the list above some of the great aspects of YRE, now let’s highlight just a few. 1) There are more graduates every year in a YRE program. During a traditional school year the students, staff and teachers are given a two to three month summer break, but through this, 2) the students lose most of their recollection of the education they received the previous year (O'dell, 1997). This can be prevented with YRE by having a chunk of summer break broken up and spread throughout the year (Ballinger, 1987). What this does is allow the students to remember what they had learned the previous year, causing the grade average to rise a noticeable difference, causing a higher overall GPA, which in turn, raises the high school graduate percentage very high (O’dell, 1997). Not only does YRE show signs of an increased average of high school graduates every year, YRE also increases the school’s performance too.

According to Kelsey, “year-round schools have roughly the same number of vacation days as traditional-calendar schools. The difference is in how those days are organized” (2016). She then goes on to say, “...the remaining vacation time gets spread out over the rest of the year” (Kelsey, 2016). So, with this spread out schedule, kids get a break from school in the Summer, Fall and Winter.

Not only does the YRE system save the students stress, it saves money too. Ballinger (1987) says that:

There have been several studies on the potential cost savings of year-round education. Conclusions indicate that multi-track calendar programs have the potential for saving a school district money in both operating and capital outlay costs. Oxnard, California, a middle-sized district, reports that its multi-track, year round programs save the district approximately $1,000,000 annually in operating costs and has already saved the district $5,000,000 in unneeded capital outlay costs, a figure that will increase to $10,000,000 over a four year period. (p. 14)

There are some downfalls when it comes to YRE though. Here’s a list: harder system transfer, lower staff availability, higher distraction in summer months, lower teacher freedoms, easy burnout, no large vacations, teachers have less time to prepare their material, the time needs to be managed well to run, and American culture is thrown out the window. These are the cons that I could find when going throughout the many sources. 

YRE causes some problems that are not easily fixed. One of these many problems is that students have a higher distraction in summer months. Usually in a traditional school system, a summer is three months long, but with only three weeks of summer, kids are back to school in July (French, 2013). Mendez feels, “Summer vacation is necessary for our children to be happy and to become well adjusted young adults (Mendez, 2016), and with the constant amount of school, there is not an effective break for healthy mental health 

Mental health is very important to keep healthy when doing hard mental challenging tasks. According to Mendez, “With schools open year-round more pressure can be put upon a student. Summer vacation gives students time to relax and a stress-free break. Studies show school does increase chances of depression and anxiety in teens” (2016). Not only does the ongoing year-round school increase depression and anxiety, but it increases teacher burnouts across the globe. 

Burnout is a big problem among teachers when it comes to the running of YRE schools. They have so much to prepare before the year starts with little time to do so. An article from theedadvocate.org states:

...employees in all industries claim that they are “burned out.” Teaching is unique when it comes to burn out, though, because an unmotivated, exhausted teacher has a direct effect on the young people in his or her classroom. So, burnout really puts high stress on the teachers.

We have now gone through the pros and cons of what YRE brings to the table such as economic benefits or the YRE system causing higher chances of depression. In conclusion of things, my opinion on this matter is: I would like to see year-round school implemented in more schools, because it will increase test scores, endurance and spread out breaks. 

References

10, 390, & 65354. (2017, April 21). Year-Round Schools: How it Affects Teachers. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/year-round-schools-how-it-affects-teachers/

Ballinger, C. E. (1987). The Year-Round School: Where Learning Never Stops. Fastback 259. Publication Sales, Phi Delta Kappa, Eighth and Union, Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402.

DESSOFF, A. (2011). Is Year-Round Schooling on Track? District Administration, 47(7), 34–45.

FRENCH, R. (2013). Forgoing Summer Vacation, Parents Swamp Year-Round School. Education Digest, 79(4), 28–30.

Glines, D. (1997, January 31). YRE: Understanding the Basics. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?q=yre&id=ED406731

Hellerman, A., Schriffen, D., Colenso-Semple, S., Spiner, T., & Schriffen, J. (1997, November 13). Could year-round schooling be coming to a school near you? New York Amsterdam News, 88(46), 20.

KELSEY, L. (2016). Should You Give Up Summer Vacation? Scholastic Scope, 64(8), 28–29.

Mendez, D. (2016, August 14). What Teens Think About Year-Round School. Retrieved from https://owlcation.com/academia/Year-Round-Education-A-Novel-Concept.

O'dell, Sharon C., "Perceptions of Year-round Principals: The Effect of Year-round Education in Fulfilling the Recommendations of the National Commission on Excellence in Education and Goals 2000" (1997). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2955. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2955

Opheim, C., & Mohajer, K. H. (1995). Evaluating year-round schools in Texas. Education, 116(1), 115.

Wehmhoefer, R. A. (1968). The Twelve Month School Year, a Study of the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Four Quarter System.

Zubrzycki, Jaclyn. “Year-Round Schooling Explained.” Education Week, Education Week, 26 Apr. 2021, www.edweek.org/leadership/year-round-schooling-explained/2015/12.