by Everi Yue

Created on: May 18, 2008

With so many of articles on this topic coming from an educator's view, I'm writing on behalf of students strongly opposing lengthening the school year.

First of all, define lengthening. Is a school district going to lengthen the school year into a year round school program or is it simply going to add more days? Either way, it's detrimental to a student's well-being and morality to add more school days than necessary.

How could adding more days to a school year be potentially deadly to a student? Students are children and they are still growing, maturing, and, indeed, riping for adulthood. But would a longer school year really a plausible way to maximum academic learning? School days are added to make a general impression upon the public that more is being taught, but are students, by sitting in white chalk classroom and staring at the whiteboards with glazed eyes, really learning more? Like all things, there is a limit to how much the brain can absorb each day and each year. Stretching the school curriculum to fit more days not only is inefficient, it's harmful to both the students' physical and mental health. It is inefficient because less things are learned in a specific span of time and no program can guarantee that things are learned more in depth. All that longer school years promise is a shorter summer and more sleepless nights doing homework and studying.

As a student at a highly prestigious school, I have experienced the daunting effects of a regular school year. A zombie by day, I have become virtually nocturnal racing through piles of daily homework and textbooks to finish my high school assignments. Teachers have no mercy when given the power to rule; with an extra day, they would simply give us more papers to fill and more ink to spill. I have gone blind for constantly typing up essays to turn in for English and History, and it places a great strain on my body and mind. As assignments pile up, I inevitably pull all-nighters, which reflect on my grades. I lose accuracy and efficiency as a result of my weariness and lose concentration on tests and class lessons. Now imagine enduring all this more a few more days. It's just a few, but who knows? A few more doses of pills could kill; how can a few more days of routines like this not kill someone?

With all of this in mind, I gladly look forward to the end of June, when school is out. Summer is not simply a time of laziness and crime (for some places); if used properly, it can harness more opportunities and programs that nourish students in ways school never can. In school, there are cliques; but I bet you that in foreign immersion programs there aren't. Summer camps and academic summer programs are all summer activities that are beneficial to youths; they are places where children leave their familiar surrounding and adventure out to expose themselves to diversity and change. Tolerance and responsibility will follow. The six pillars of character, which are drilled in students' minds at school during cool falls, freezing winters, and rainy springs, are finally of some use during the summer when students apply for jobs, pursue their hobbies and interests in out-of-school activities, and relax enough to explore the wonders of the world outside the secluded school environment. Family life are also constructed on the amount of time members share with each other. Summer provides the essential moment for the entire family to bond and share memories together.

Knowledge is not only built on books, but also by positive and healthy chances. During the summer is also the time where kids, especially teenagers, discover their true selves. Subtract days from the summer and you've limited the chances of transformation and revival.

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