Year Around Schooling - Essay Sample

Introduction

The educational system is an essential process that people go through for the impaction of knowledge and skills. These skills are essential for developing a well-equipped generation that can be well involved in nation-building and other essential social development-oriented projects. However, despite schooling being such an essential aspect of our livelihoods, there is life outside the classroom. As a result, the schooling calendar is designed to break in between the study sessions, which enables the learners to engage in other extra-curricular activities necessary for the holistic personal development process into a well-socially adept individual (Shields & Oberg, 2013). In light of this claim, year-round schooling is not the best approach to study if we wish to provide learners with an opportunity to explore a broader view of life. Thus, there is the necessity to develop a comprehensive schooling calendar that will allow students to engage in their learning activities while allowing students to have personal time for self-discovery and exploration of other non-educational related interests constructively.

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Year Round Schooling and Associated Advantages

Year-round schooling is an idea that may sound plausible at first as it has numerous advantages. For K-12 learners, given that they have minimal responsibilities, it would be a good idea to put these children’s time into constructive use, which can be achieved by ensuring that they are in school whenever possible. This would be a good approach to learning as it would give the learners ample time to familiarize themselves with the course content and learning exercises (Merino, 2019). Such a study approach would be the development of learning content mastery, which would significantly improve performance.

Another evident advantage that comes with year-round schooling is the ease of congestion in schooling facilities. Under the normal school calendar, many students and pupils are concentrated within a certain time duration. This, therefore, results in the scarcity of learning resources as these leaning materials have to be shared among a wide group of learners. However, with year-round schooling, this problem gets solved through students’ enrollment distribution throughout the academic year calendar. Therefore, the learning facilities can host a particular number of students at a given time comfortably concerning the available resources in a given facility.

Besides the educational advantages associated with year-round schooling, there is also an economic advantage that this schooling program presents. Year-round schooling provides teachers with full-time employment opportunities and, at the same time, saves the parents costs incurred on paying for daycare services during school holidays. With year-round schooling, teachers can arrange their timetables in a flexible schedule, enabling them to take up more teaching opportunities around them, thus helping them increase their income capacity.

Disadvantages of Year Around Schooling

While numerous advantages have been associated with year-round schooling, some disadvantages come with this schooling calendar. Some of these observations are not disadvantages but evidence on the adverse impacts that year-round schooling could have on social development and progress. While education is an integral aspect of our day to day lives, we also need to understand the society we live in, not from a scholarly perspective but through experience and direct involvement in the activities and events around us. Year-around schooling hampers this and denies the younger generation this much-desired experience.

In today's modern society, social ties are becoming more weakened. Today, most extended families hardly meet to spend time together and catch up (Graves, 2011). The same case has been evidenced in the nuclear family where parents and caregivers are busy and have little time for interactions. This case is expected to be worsened by the adoption of the year-around schooling approach. With this schooling calendar, children are expected to spend more time at school and less time with their families and other close social relations. The results of this are declined parenting responsibilities where the parents don’t know what their children are up to and are scarcely involved in their developmental process.

Another key challenge that has been associated with YRS (Year Around Schooling) is the denial of teenagers with attaining some essential real-world experiences. During holidays such as the summer break, most teenagers have been identified to look for jobs and other essential occupational activities. These part-time employment opportunities are important in that they help the young students understand the real world's functionalities and how to apply knowledge gained in class in real-life situations. Consequently, through these working opportunities, learners can learn and identify their talents and occupational likes and interests. Therefore, this helps shape and advise the learners on the best career goals to pursue future employment or entrepreneurial aspirations.

YRS also interferes with extra-curricular activities. During the holiday season, the learners can participate in important life experiences learning activities that cannot be taught in the classroom or included in the learning curriculum. Some of these extra-curricular activities include; summer camps, vocational training workshops, community sporting activities, among other tasks. However, with year-round schooling, this becomes almost impossible as most of the students’ time is spent on schooling activities that leave little or no time for the leaners to learn different aspects of life outside the classroom setting (Gandara & Fish, 2014). A common saying i.e., "Work without play makes Jack a dull boy," is a clear illustration of the disadvantages of year-round schooling on students’ wellbeing.

Another key disadvantage of year-round schooling is the financial struggle that the study approach places on parents and caregivers. Living in tough economic times, it is difficult for parents to take up the extra financial responsibilities that come with year-round schooling. As a result, this creates a bias between learners from economically well-off backgrounds and those from backgrounds who are not able to take up the extra learning costs associated with the YRS schooling calendar. As a result, this school calendar creates a financial strain on parents and is divisive on a socioeconomic basis for the learners.

Conclusion

Based on the research evidence presented above, it is evident that certain advantages are associated with YRS and some disadvantages. Considering the two sides, it is possible to take advantage of the benefits that come with year-round schooling while avoiding the associated disadvantages. This could be achieved by developing an amicable schooling calendar that will minimize any time wastage while at the same time, leaving the learners enough time to experience other life encounters. Such a schooling calendar will consider the financial aspects associated with YRS (McMullen & Rouse, 2012). This, therefore, goes to support the thesis statement. There is the necessity to develop a comprehensive schooling calendar that will allow students to engage in their learning activities while allowing students to have personal time for self-discovery and exploration of other non-educational related interests constructively.

References

Shields, C. M., & Oberg, S. L. (2013). Year-round schooling: Promises and pitfalls.

Merino, B. J. (2019). The impact of year-round schooling: A review. Urban Education, 18(3), 298-316.

Gandara, P., & Fish, J. (2014). Year-round schooling as an avenue to major structural reform. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 16(1), 67-85.

McMullen, S. C., & Rouse, K. E. (2012). The impact of year-round schooling on academic achievement: Evidence from mandatory school calendar conversions. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 4(4), 230-52.

Graves, J. (2011). Effects of year-round schooling on disadvantaged students and the distribution of standardized test performance. Economics of Education Review, 30(6), 1281-1305.