An Argument for Year Round School: Written by a Student Who Loves Brain Breaks

Jackie Sibila, Staff Writer

By the time June rolls around, burnout has taken over all motivation. But with June comes a well needed break: summer. It comes and goes and it’s just long enough for us to lose all the information gained over the last year, yet not long enough before the stress and hectic school life starts again for another go round. And so, I add oil to my rusty brain as I begin the great countdown, ticking off the weeks until summer break finally comes again – the only math I am actually good at. 

But, what if we could have more frequent breaks? What if after every 45 days in school, we had a 15 day vacation? Or for every 60 days in school, we had 20 off? Seems like a pretty sweet deal to me. I present to you, year round school. 

The idea of year round school, at first, seems very unappealing. No one wants to feel like they are in school all year, constantly working and worrying about schoolwork. However, schools which follow a year round calendar don’t actually have students in school for longer than our current school calendar. They are roughly even. The breaks will just be distributed differently. Currently, we get around 10 weeks for summer break. On a year round school calendar, we could still have that amount of vacation time, it would just be distributed differently throughout the year. 

With shorter breaks it won’t feel like you are losing all your learning. When summer rolls around I become a blob and I’m pretty sure I lose an ungodly amount of brain cells by the amount of nothing I do. But, more frequent school breaks would be like an extended brain break. You can then come back to school rejuvenated and ready to start fresh learning! 

Also, with more breaks comes more possibilities for vacations throughout the year which, though it sounds counterintuitive, means you might be able to spend more time with your friends. Because there is only one chunk of time where a family can go away with traditional schooling, it’s hard to coordinate spending time hanging out with friends. Even though families may go on vacation at different times, with year round school there are more opportunities to land a couple weeks living out the pogue life. 

It’s hard to say whether traditional or year round schooling is superior. Every student, family and their needs are different. What is better for one may not be better for the other. But as someone who cannot get through an hour of homework without taking at least 3 breaks, I would definitely consider giving year round schooling a shot. Who knows, maybe returning to school doesn’t have to be like trying to light a fire in my brain – where it is storming – after all.