When students hear the phrase “year-round school”, typically the reaction is overwhelmingly negative. However, this phrase is misleading, as year-round school doesn’t actually insinuate the loss of summer vacation, but an increase in the number of breaks spread out throughout the year. In other words, the overall days in school would not change by converting to year-round school; the days off would just be more evenly distributed as opposed to being concentrated in a 3 month long summer vacation. Converting to year-round school would mean students better retain information learned before summer break and burn out less during the academic year. Summer learning loss, also known as “summer slide”, is a common occurrence where students lose some of the academic progress they made in the previous year. This tendency is especially prevalent for students in lower income families who don’t have access to an abundance of learning resources and expensive summer camps designed to help keep students’ minds stimulated over the long break. If summer break was shorter, there would be a greater opportunity for students to remember the information they learned in the previous school year, so teachers wouldn’t have to spend as much time reviewing old content. A shorter summer break would also help prevent academic burnout by providing more breaks for students spaced out throughout the school year. Long stretches of school without substantial breaks can lead to students getting tired, stressed, and frustrated with the piles of homework and lack of free time, especially for those involved in demanding extracurricular activities. By spreading out the time taken off of summer break to the shorter breaks sprinkled throughout the year, students will have more time to rest and recover between stretches of school time, thus reducing the possibility of burnout. Many schools around the country are already adopting this style of academic calendar, and for good reason. Students and teachers alike would benefit from the change, as it would be easier to remember content learned before summer and fall back into a school routine so that teachers don’t have to waste precious class time on review. Tired students would also benefit from the less sparse breaks throughout the year. While it may seem an unconventional change to the classic American school year, the benefits of adopting year-round school outweigh the detriments.
