Schools Should Go Year-round Instead of Using the Traditional School Calendar (Essay Example)

“More smiling, less worrying..” says Roy T. Bennett. A way to make more happy and smiling kids would be to change to year-round school. Schools should be year-round because there are benefits like how you get shorter breaks and won’t lose any knowledge, how students will begin to like school if you change to year-round, and how schools can save money whilst doing this.

You get shorter breaks which will make you not lose as much knowledge. According to the author, “Eliminating any sort of long break from school can improve a child’s academic achievement. Long summers are known to cause “summer slide,” or the decline of academic skills and knowledge over the course of the extended vacation.” This evidence supports the idea how summer break causes you to lose lots of information. Moreover, another example of this is when the author of “Summer learning loss: What is it, and what can we do about it?” says “As students return to school this fall, many of them – perhaps especially those from historically disadvantaged student groups – will be starting the academic year with achievement levels lower than where they were at the beginning of summer break” This author goes into detail about what summer learning loss is and just how much it can affect students.

Furthermore, year-round schools are superior to the traditional calendar because it will make students and staff happier and closer. The author of “Top 3 Reasons the US Should Switch to Year-Round Schooling” says “Teachers and students experience a closer relationship in year-round schools than they do in traditional, shorter-calendar-year schools. In the absence of any long-term break from school, students do not feel detached from the school environment.” This shows how students will feel closer to their school and to their teachers! Another piece of evidence to support this reason is when another author states “According to the perceptions of the staff, YRS has a "positive influence on student mental health." Teachers observe that students come back from their breaks refreshed and rested.” This author proves with an example of how students' mental health is better with short breaks and, being ‘refreshed and rested’ will increase their focus.

It is often thought that maintaining schools year-round would cost more just like how the researcher of Top 3 Reasons the US Should Switch to Year-Round Schooling thinks. They state “Many school districts argue that maintaining buildings year-round would be more expensive. In some areas, air conditioning facilities during hot summer months would be costly. Summer breaks also provide adequate time to conduct lengthy maintenance projects on school buildings.” The evidence, however, disproves the argument that year-round school is more expensive because another author of Pros and Cons of Year-Round School says in a statement “Beyond the capital cost of a building, money can be saved because a higher number of students are using the same resources, like library books or physical-education equipment. Some schools have even listed a decrease in vandalism as a financial plus of year-round occupancy (California Department of Education 2015).” This proves that money will be saved and things like library books will be used instead of wasting away throughout the summer.

All of the data given today, taken together, proves how year-round school is better for students because they will not have a summer-slide of knowledge, students will be happier, and it is cheaper overall.