Should Schools Go Year Round?

Schools all around the world have begun going completely year round, which could have lots of positive and negative outcomes. There are different types of school schedules, most commonly, completely year-round, modified, or traditional.  

The decision of making school schedules full year round is a looming discussion, and one that will lead to disaster. Firstly, summer is a much-needed break for students after having a stressful school year. It is much more likely for students and teachers to burn-out or get unmotivated with no break splitting up the school years. Secondly, it costs more for the district to go year-round. Maintaining school facilities, such as air conditioning, can raise the price a lot and some districts may be unprepared for this. Another reason is that summer provides time for exploration and relaxation, and if this is reduced, students may not get as much sun as is needed. I also believe that with all the added stress and additional time together will lead to more bullying. 

Being burnt out is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged or chronic stress. Which is not ideal for students because “being burnt out in general education students can lead to a decline in academic performance” which could lead to failure in classes. According to Crown Counselling,“55.16% have a certain degree of academic burnout” which means that more than half of students are being burnt out from academic pressure, time management challenges, social pressure, and personal factors. 

Loss of motivation is also a big factor of why students are getting burnt out from school. According to Edsource “more than 1,000 gen z students, between the ages of 12 to 18, found that engagement was often lacking.” It also states that “less than half of the middle and highschool students surveyed feel motivated to go to school.”  

There are many people around the world that state that they are highly emotionally exhausted and about 56.3% of students have reported this. About 65% of freshmen have also reported being burnt out and unmotivated from school. 

Some may argue that year-round schooling will change education for the better and impact students’ learning in a positive way. Year-round schooling can provide reduced learning loss by taking away a long break and giving more time for education. It can also provide teachers with more stable employment opportunities. Year-round school gives more frequent, short breaks and gives structure for a more consistent learning experience. However, without the usual summer break, students are much more likely to struggle with no motivation and this schedule may lead to reduced learning retention. It may be continuous learning, but is that really worth it if students aren’t retaining the information. 

Instead of fully committing to year-round schooling, school districts should move into a modified schedule if the traditional schedule isn’t working for them.  A modified schedule gives students frequent breaks and helps with time as it starts earlier and ends at the same time as with a traditional schedule. An increase in parental involvement is another option as they can ensure that their student isn’t forgetting the information they learned over the year and keep the learning flow going. 

While potential benefits of year-round school are worth considering, a traditional or modified schedule offers balance for students, parents, and teachers that is good for mental health and the developing minds of students. A year-round schedule can be detrimentally negative and a significant drop in motivation is to be expected.