Year Round School Essay, Research Paper
Last fall our school board decided to make it mandatory for students to attend school year-round. There were many issues to look at before making this decision. I feel that year round school can both benefit and hurt children.
There are many issues that people are for and against for year round schooling. What will happen to kids who have summer jobs or even part time jobs? Employers look for kids who are willing to work during the summer months when there are more activities going on in our community. During the school year students can only work part time and during the summer they are able to work more hours. When school is out during the winter months, things are slower, so business is slow. When this happens, it decreases will decrease their hours.
What about families who work and have small children? Who do they get to keep their children? It is expensive for families who have children to put them in daycare. Weekly averages of childcare expenses, for one child, will run approximately $75.00 a week. Imagine having two or more children to have in day care. The parents who work already know when they can get off of work and know that they will be home either before their child or they have someone who will stay with them till they get home. Some schools even have an after school program for parents who work. These programs are not offered during the weeks that schools will be out for remediation or enrichment.
But in all there are many advantages to year round schools. The students have a better chance of ?catching up? in subjects that they may be doing poorly in, or they can work on ?extra credit? work to bring their GPA to a higher level. It can also reduce the stress that students feel from their teachers.
Teachers play a big role in the decision of year round schools. They get frustrated and ?burnt out? and the break will help them to relieve some of their stresses. It also allows them time to work on projects that they might want to cover in a class, that they may not have time to do otherwise.
With some families it could lengthen their vacation time with their child. Some parents may have a two-week vacation period, but only able to take their child out of school for a week. This does not allow them much time, if most of it is spent on the road. For example, say that a family wanted to take a vacation in Orlando, Florida. It take 17 hours to drive there, then if they stop to spend the night somewhere, that is going to take 2 days to get there. Then they would only have 2 or 3 days to sight see or go to Disney World, before it was time to start for home. By the time they get home, they would be exhausted because they would have to go back to school the next day.
As you can see there are several advantages to going to a year round school policy. Teachers wouldn?t be ?burnt out?; more time with families and students would be able to improve grades in school through remediation programs. But then you also have the families who have children that don?t go on vacations and have to depend on someone else to take care of their children. It also cuts into summer jobs for teenagers. All of these things should be considered before making the decisions whether or not there should be a year round school.