Why We Should Not Convert To Year Round School

“What’s your favorite time of year?” “Summer!” This exemplars a common question asked by an adult, and a typical reply from a child. Of course summer’s their favorite time of the year because they have summer break! 10-12 weeks full of sun and fun! What’s not to love? Well, if the year round school people get their way, these kids would become really upset. Year round schooling has become more and more common in the USA. Although many schools still have the traditional summer break, many other schools have started to convert to year round schooling. From difficulty to find appropriate child care, to a detriment to family structure, and a financial toll, schools should not convert to year round schooling.

To begin with, schools should not
convert to year round schooling because it’s hard to find appropriate child care. Patricia McCracken, who grew up attending a year round school in Virginia Beach, Virginia says, “It meant my sister and I were basically latchkey kids for two or three years because it was impossible to find a babysitter two weeks every six weeks.” This tells us that when both parents work, and if their children attend year round schools, it's extremely hard to find child care. The effect of this may include children staying home alone, which isn’t safe, or parents having to take frequent breaks from work. It also puts more stress on the parents because they have to plan everything ahead of time. Not only that, but the children spend an excessive amount of time cooped up inside the house, which isn’t good for their health either. In conclusion, schools should not convert to year round schooling because it’s difficult to find appropriate child care.

In addition, schools should not convert to year round schooling because it causes a detriment to family structure. Dr. Matthew Lynch, an education activist and the dean of the school of education, psychology, and interdisciplinary studies of Virginia Union University, says, “American families have become accustomed to the traditional long summer vacation. Parents may find it difficult to schedule vacations and family reunions.” This means that families usually use summer break to go on family vacations, but if their child/children attend a year round school it’s harder for them to plan something. The effect of this the family bonds weakening. If parents work they can’t take time off to go on vacation that often. So they would only spend time together during dinner and weekends. Clearly, schools should not convert to year round schooling because it causes a detriment to family structure.

Another reason schools should not convert to year round schooling because it cause a financial toll.
According to Jaclyn Zubrzycki, who wrote an article for edweek.org, “Others cite the financial toll involved in switching the calendar. Tourism and other industries that count on summer vacation might suffer. High schoolers might be less able to get summer jobs. And the transition brings added costs to school districts, which have to pay for (and sometimes install) utilities in buildings, stipends for teacher, or other associated expenses.” This leads to the assumption that without summer break, schools don't have enough time to add new facilities or repair facilities. Teachers also will not have enough time to plan their lesson plan or syllabus. The effect of this is, students may end up having to use old facilities, and teachers would rush to plan their lesson plan ahead of time. Not only that but as stated by Jaclyn Zubrzycki other industries may also suffer. To sum up, schools should not convert to year round schooling because it causes a financial
toll.

Some people say that schools should convert to year round schooling because it prevents summer learning loss.
Carol Lloyd, the executive editor of Great Schools says, “Summer learning loss is a major issue for kids. All children - no matter their economic level - experience a slide on math over the summer months.” But undoubtedly, this claim can be challenged because even if year round schooling prevents summer learning loss, the 3 or 2 weeks they have for breaks can also cause learning loss. They will forget the most recent concept they learned, causing their teacher to teach them again. If this happens, then the teacher will have no choice, but to go through the lesson plan again, very slowly. Patricia McCracken also states, “It was really hard to get involved in the work because as soon as you geared up, you had to gear back down again.” Without a doubt, schools should not convert to year round schooling because it’s extremely difficult to find appropriate child care, it causes a detriment to family structure, and it also causes a financial
toll.

For the reasons above, schools should not convert to year round schooling because, as stated earlier, it’s extremely difficult to find appropriate child care, it causes a detriment to family structure, and it also causes a financial toll. When considering the choice of whether, schools should convert to year round schooling or not, the choice should definitely be schools should not convert to year round schooling. Schools shouldn’t convert to year round schooling, because learning loss can even occur in a short period of time. This would mean that teacher would have to reteach the same topic, which ensues lots of irritation. The students would also spend less time with their family, because they won’t have the traditional summer break. Not only that, but it causes parents more stress to arrange child care for their child/children. If this claim isn’t listened to, teachers teach the same concept repeatedly, family bonds weaken, it disrupts parents work, and it risks the child’s safety. Obviously schools should not convert to year round schooling because not only does it take away precious family bonding time, it also increases stress for parents.