20-Year Teacher Advocates For Year-Round School Schedule — ‘Summer Is Too Long’
He kind of has a point though.
Rido / Shutterstock Summer vacation is the best part of the year for students and, if we're being totally honest, teachers too. But summer vacation is not a guarantee in every district. In fact, there are plenty of places right here in the U.S. that have school year-round. One veteran teacher is advocating that year-round schooling be the standard instead of the exception, and although his opinion isn't liked by everyone, he does make some good points.
For most parents, summer break means summer camp expenses and scrambling for childcare. Let's face it, until parents are given summers off, too, working parents will always advocate for year-round school. But that's not the only reason why breaking the summer vacation standard should become the norm, according to this teacher. He argued that year-round school is all about student success.
A veteran teacher advocated for shifting to a year-round school schedule.
Jake Rupp, who has been an English teacher for 20 years, has boldly proclaimed that he thinks having school year-round is a good idea. It may sound crazy at first, but just hear him out.
What Rupp is proposing is having school run continuously all year round, but having a two-week break after every nine weeks of school. Students would spend the same amount of time at school as they do in the current schedule, but it would just be distributed evenly throughout the year.
Though he knows it's controversial, Rupp argued that "summer is too long." He explained it's too big a disruption to the routine that students and teachers fall into during the school year, and that they suffer more when returning to school after a long vacation.
Year-round school can be extremely beneficial to students, both in and out of the classroom.
Taking long summer breaks can cause student achievement and retention rates to decline. This is often referred to as the "summer slide," and it can be difficult for parents to prevent this from happening. A study from 1996 found that students drastically suffer from summer slide in both English and math skills, which researchers argued can have a snowball effect as they experience subsequent skill loss each year.
It especially affects low-income students. Students from higher-income families continue receiving resources that help them learn and develop over the summer, but lower-income families don't always have the ability to provide these same resources to kids. They tend to fall behind and struggle more to catch up when school begins again in the fall. Year-round schooling would remove this barrier and help students of all incomes to learn at similar paces.
Year-round school can also help support social and emotional health in both students and teachers. These schedules have been known to reduce stress and burnout, and prevent students from experiencing behavioral problems and dropping out.
Imagine if every few months of work, you were guaranteed two weeks off? It actually sounds pretty awesome, doesn't it? Add to that all the regular holidays, and burnout might be a thing of the past! Wait, how do we all sign up for this teacher's plan?
While there are numerous benefits to year-round school, there are also certain drawbacks to consider.
Students actually have an opportunity to practice valuable skills at the beginning of the school year. Although most instructional time is spent explaining new routines and procedures, students learn to adapt to different expectations and become comfortable with changes and unfamiliar environments.
To make this work, schools wouldn't be the only thing that would have to adjust. Since most extracurricular activities outside of school work around the traditional nine-month schedule, students may not have the chance to participate in summer programs like sports teams or camps.
Additionally, running a school all year long simply costs more. Besides paying staff, it would inevitably be more expensive for maintenance and utilities like heating and cooling. This money would obviously have to come from somewhere, and schools are already running on tight budgets due to government cuts.
Chances are, the change to year-round school won't happen anytime soon, but it's certainly something to consider. In the meantime, parents, according to Scholastic, should keep their kids sharp by prioritizing reading for pleasure instead of screen time and planning educational but fun experiences like camps based on specific interests, and trips to museums.
Kayla Asbach is a writer currently working on her bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
