Studies show that students who attend school year-round ...



Studies show that students who attend school year-round perform better than students who attend school on a traditional nine-month rotation schedule. In my opinion, it would benefit U.S. education to move the school system from nine months to twelve months for two main reasons. The first reason a twelve month school program would be good for kids is that the additional time in school would make them better prepared to compete in the working world as adults – especially when measured against the foreign education system in areas such as science and math. The second reason I believe a year-round school schedule is appropriate is that the community would benefit both financially and socially if kids were not outside running around in June, July and August, but were instead managed indoors and learning.

Returning to my first point, I believe year round education programs will make our kids more competitive globally – especially in math and science. For example, in Japan, it is not uncommon for students to be in school up to ten or more hours per day learning – even at the late elementary level. By the time they are pre-college, Japanese students easily surpass not only the ten-hour school day but they also hold part time professional jobs as well. School in Japan is a way of life, not just something you do while your parents are at work. Therefore, Japanese students (and students in other developed foreign countries) are well disciplined to not only word hard in school, but to attend school more months of the year.

Contrast the Japanese education system to that of the U.S. Department of Education. American students, once you subtract lunch, recess and time to move from class-to-class, are in school less than 6.5 productive hours per day. This is assuming the teacher and the students are fully engaged in class from bell-to-bell…and let’s face it, we know they are not. As a result of the difference in hours spent in school, Japanese students are better able to compete for not just top ranked jobs in their home country, but foreign countries as well – including our territory. When it comes to technically difficult jobs involving the math and sciences, American companies are turning their attention abroad to find human resource people to fill the slot. Why? Because we know that foreign countries work their students harder and longer in their school system than in our school system.

My second point on why I believe American schools need to be year-round is that it will benefit the local community in a number of ways. For example, if parents are not strapped with paying summer day care bills (which can easily cost in the thousands of dollars) this leaves more money to be spent on community small business. As a result, the community, as a whole, is raised to a higher quality of living – all because monies spent on day care can instead be used for other areas of living.

Furthermore, if children are not out on the streets during the summer months, extra police and security patrol do not have to be hired to “baby sit” delinquent children. Crime rates would lower and the safety of the community, as a whole, would improve if children were not running around for nine weeks of the year with nothing to do. Let’s face it, all parents are not responsible and they do not always have the funds to hire full-time summer babysitters or put their kids in summer day camp.

In closing, I believe it is time for America to rethink its antiquated education system. We are no longer a farming society. As such there is no need to take summers off to harvest the crops. What we need to be harvesting is our children’s’ brain. Write your local representative or…better yet…your state senator and tell them you want a change in the American education system. Give them my reasons or give them your own reasons. No matter what, year-round schools would make us more competitive globally with foreign education systems and it would benefit our local communities in the areas of finance and safety.

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