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 Year Round Schools? 
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There has been a lot of talk about year round schools in the news lately because of President Obama's comments about how the academic calendar we have now puts us "at a competitive disadvantage." He has mentioned the possibility of lengthening the school day and/or the school year. Many teachers and parents have complaints about this, so I was just wondering what you guys thought.

Personally, I'm a fan of summer. I think most people are. I think it's a good time for kids to be kids and enjoy themselves before getting back to business in August/September. I know some argue that kids forget a lot of stuff between June and August, but 1) that means they probably never leared it right and 2) the lengthened school year won't fix that. I just figure the year round school (with like six weeks of class then two weeks off or something like that) would provide more opportunities for students to forget things. Plus the lengthened school day would cut into extra curricular activities, I think. Students have family dinners, church, sports, tutoring sessions, music lessons, whatever...class going until four and five in the afternoon would knock just about everything else out of their day! Maybe I'm not looking at the 'bigger picture' of what it means for us to be behind other countries, but I just feel like we force too much on kids already. We need to let them be kids and teenagers.

Article: http://www.kansas.com/196/story/734077.html

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Natalie Brady


Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:59 pm
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What I have never heard but I'm sure there is a study that has been done somewhere is whether year round school students fair in comparisons to Traditional calender students. There should be enough diversity to have a sudy done and have results. My hypothesis on such a study is that is really does have a small effect either way. I think like so many other things dealing with people in general, it's a person to person thing and one person doing better in one setting does not prove that the majority of people will do as well in that same setting.
If anyone has seen such a study, I would be interested in seeing the results.

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William Joseph Vreeland


Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:57 pm
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I am with Natalie and I love my summers! I have my best memories from childhood in the summer. I think we would take more away from children by making them go to a year round school than we would help. Summer also gives students parents to plan trips to go on vacation or visit family, I do not see how that is possible when you are going to school all year round. In relation to lengthening the school day I agree that it will take away from most if not all extra curricular activities. I think students sit in a classroom long enough as it is. If we can't keep them focused until 2 or 3 what makes people think students will focuse till 4 or 5. Sometimes I wish the people who come up with this stuff be placed in the classroom rather than what they think about it. I am a fan of the traditional school. I think there are more serious problems that need to be focused on rather than length of school or if we should go year round.

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Alicia Yewcic


Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:52 pm
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William Vreeland wrote:
What I have never heard but I'm sure there is a study that has been done somewhere is whether year round school students fair in comparisons to Traditional calender students. There should be enough diversity to have a sudy done and have results. My hypothesis on such a study is that is really does have a small effect either way. I think like so many other things dealing with people in general, it's a person to person thing and one person doing better in one setting does not prove that the majority of people will do as well in that same setting.
If anyone has seen such a study, I would be interested in seeing the results.


That article talks about a study and you're right, there was no significant improvement shown with the year round school caldenar vs the traditional one.

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Natalie Brady


Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:06 pm
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I'm all for the summer. One advantage to the job of teaching is getting holidays and summer off. Teachers are already underpaid, if they lengthen the school day and/or school year then teachers should get paid more and in this economy I don't see that happening. Students also need a break. We can't cram our children with knowledge because there's more to life than state approved subjects. Also, students learn a lot from experiences outside of the classroom. Allowing them time off from school gives them a chance to travel and have experiences that the school might not be able to offer. Also, students look forward to their summers off, if we take away that then the drop out rate could possibly increase simply because students get tired of school and need that break. Also, a few years back, a rule was made that schools could not start until late August for economic boosting reasons. Lengthening the school year would take away from so many businesses. Some rely on high school students to work their organizations, while others rely on the fact that parents will need child care. With the economy in the state that it is right now, I just don't think that keeping students in school longer would benefit anyone.

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Katelyn McMillan


Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:37 pm
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I feel that year-round schooling is crazy. Children need their summer time. I know that supposiviely children are behind in schooling compared to the rest of the world but too much of something is not always better. Children need to have a serious time of learning but children also need to have free and down time to rest and relax.

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Katherine Gray Nelli


Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:09 pm
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I agree that if the studies show that year round schools don't show improvement then why make the switch? I haven't heard anything about the President saying he was pushing for year round schools, and I hope that it doesn't happen. Not only do the students need their summer vacation, but the teachers need it too. Summer is a time to relax and make new lesson plans and come up with better ideas for the coming fall to improve your classroom.

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Heather L. Heath


Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:49 pm
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I agree with Natalie and the idea that year round schooling is not the best idea for students. One of my friends did year round schooling when she was younger and she said she didn't really mind it and I guess students wouldn't really know the difference if that's the way they've always done it, but I am like others, I really love my summers. I agree with what Natalie said about students forgetting material over the summers as well. If teachers are teaching the way they are supposed to then students will remember through the summers and be fine. I also think that extending the day is a bad idea because of extracurricular activities. Especially for high school students, I think that extracurricular activities are often the only thing that keeps students going to school and they need to be a part of our students' lives.

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Leslie Sheppard


Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:16 am
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I also knew someone who was in a year round school and said there were good and bad things about it. She liked that they had breaks throughout the year and there was a smoother transition between grades. However, I think that would be a hard part. There is no transition. Each year, things are the same as they were the year before. Also, the biggest idea against year round schools seems to be the lack of a summer. Like everyone else, Summer was my favorite time of the year. Kids aren't given the chance to be kids often enough. When you put them in a year round school and take away their summer, they lose even more of that chance to be a kid.

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Megan Wright


Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:28 pm
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