by Jan Castagnaro

Created on: July 02, 2007   Last Updated: April 08, 2009

I'm also against a year long school schedule for students.

As a mother of 3, with the oldest just finishing his first year of college, I have witnessed the extreme changes in public school education; and in comparison with my own education, I feel education today is truly lacking. They cram and push curriculum to young children, who developmentally are not ready for such intense work. They lessen and almost eliminate play and interaction time just so they can push these kids even harder with curriculum that does not need to be encouraged at such young ages. It's no wonder we are finding so many students that get to high school level are void of any recall memory of early curriculum they should have absorbed. When you expedite the learning process, there is bound to be a higher percentage of students that the curriculum doesn't reach or they are unable to comprehend.

What year long school schedules would encourage is more cramming of work that isn't really necessary. In the end, you will find even more students reaching high school completely burnt out and enthusiastically lost. You would find that school administrations would manage to fill up the extra time with even more rushed learning so they can say that at least they exposed the children to something more; but, have they?

If you cannot accomplish inspiring children/students educationally in approximately 182 days for an average school year, then I think the problem is not going to be solved by increasing the amount of days in attendance. The school systems need to focus on what type of content they are going to cover in each grade, and what is the best method of delivering it. I have found that today's schools have forgotten the one principle from my school days, which was that every student learns in a different way, and at a different pace, but that every child can learn.

Sure, maybe younger students (elementary school aged) might not mind seeing their friends in the school climate all year round, but older kids need to have that summer break to figure out who they are on personal levels. They need that time to unwind, get a summer job and learn responsibilities, and yes, have time with their families.

During most school years, family quality time is often put on hold because there is always something that has to be done for school. If you strip away summer vacation, you are also chiseling away at the foundation of a quality family.

Also, what about students from divorced homes who have to split visitation? Seems one parent would get stripped of time they may have spent with their child(ren). What about us Military families? We tend to utilize summer vacation for time to travel back to our hometowns or just for time to reconnect as a family.

Ultimately, extending a school year is not going to fix the problems in our schools. If anything it will create more and even cause a fracturing of family quality in a time where that element seems to be greatly diminishing.

Learn more about this author, Jan Castagnaro.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.