The Faults In the Year Round School System
Currently the United States of America ranks 14th worldwide in overall education. This coupled with it's ranking of 36th in mathematics, 25th in reading, and 28th in science, is evidence to me that we are falling behind in education. Think of it this way, there are approximately 200 countries. If you consider even the top half to be competitive (and most ranking charts don't even go below 50), then overall we have are in the 86th percentile or have a B on a regular A through F grade scale. However: when you focus on the 3 major subjects we are getting a D in math, a C in reading and a C- in science. This makes us hardly star scholars on the world stage. There are likely many plausible solutions to this problem however, I would like to discuss how switching to a year round or extended year school schedule could address this problem.
With the traditional school system, many people are concerned that the extended break is too long. Their argument stems largely off the idea that students loose a large portion of what they learned over the summer due to lack of use of the information. There are also studies that attribute a learning gap equivalent to three and a half years between middle class and lower class income households to the long summer gap. Additionally, younger students that are struggling in their classes don't have a chance to catch up on the classes they are struggling in until summer school when they have already failed the class. Some schools offer after school assistance for these struggling kids, however this may not be as accessible to lower income families due to transportation issues.
Low teacher pay, lack of teachers, overcrowding, and under funding are also common issues in the traditional school system. Unfortunately I have no solutions for the under funding problem beyond simply asking that you vote yes to the next school budget referendum. Teachers pay has never been high, this is in large part on account of the under funding problem and teaching simply not being a year round job. Thus teachers get paid for the 180 days of school plus planning, administrative, and summer school days. Overcrowding is also largely due to under funding but is additionally contributed to by the lack of sufficient numbers of teachers.
With the traditional school system, many people are concerned that the extended break is too long. Their argument stems largely off the idea that students loose a large portion of what they learned over the summer due to lack of use of the information. There are also studies that attribute a learning gap equivalent to three and a half years between middle class and lower class income households to the long summer gap. Additionally, younger students that are struggling in their classes don't have a chance to catch up on the classes they are struggling in until summer school when they have already failed the class. Some schools offer after school assistance for these struggling kids, however this may not be as accessible to lower income families due to transportation issues.
Low teacher pay, lack of teachers, overcrowding, and under funding are also common issues in the traditional school system. Unfortunately I have no solutions for the under funding problem beyond simply asking that you vote yes to the next school budget referendum. Teachers pay has never been high, this is in large part on account of the under funding problem and teaching simply not being a year round job. Thus teachers get paid for the 180 days of school plus planning, administrative, and summer school days. Overcrowding is also largely due to under funding but is additionally contributed to by the lack of sufficient numbers of teachers.