CE Writing

This week I am going to be writing about the pros and cons of the "Year-round" and "Balanced" calendar. I am going to talk about the definition of "Year-round" and "balanced" calendars, and the pros and cons along with what I think.

           The definition of the "Year-round" and "Balanced" calendar is that, like we discussed in class, will not increase the time we are in school. As we discussed in class there are a certain numbers of days we have to be in school for and we will still have the same amount of time in school, it is not like we will have more or less school, it is just that our breaks will be spread out in different places. One and the most chosen example of an "Year-round" calendar is 45-15. This means that students will be in school for 45 days and then gets 3 weeks off not accounting for weekends. The normal breaks like holidays will be put into the new calendar.       

           A couple pros to the "Year-round" calendar are that some students forget all that they learned over the long summer break, where as the shorter breaks the students will not forget as much. This system also makes students are engaged in a number of after-school activities, to kill their boredom, because the activities would keep them busy during the 3 week break. Now it is possible for families to plan shorter trips to different places instead of one long trip once an year. I'm not saying that these are the only advantages, I just listed a little bit of it.

           A couple of arguments against the "Year-round" calendar are that some schools are older and do not have air conditioning, so during the summer time the schools are going to be quite hot. So for people who can't concentrate in the heat is not going to learn as much or stay on focus as well. An argument against the "Year-round" calendar is that student are going to forget some information even if they are out of school for 3 weeks. If a parent has two children and one of the two children is on the "Year-round" school system and one is on the "Traditional" school system then it is harder for the parent to plan a vacation. And like the pros these are not the only arguments against the "Year -round" calendar.

           Right now for me I don’t think it will affect me a lot but when I need to get a summer job or job experience later on in high school it may affect me, unless the learning curriculum changes, it will affect me. Right now, in grade 8, I actually don’t mind the "Year-round" and "Balanced" calendar. Overall I don’t really like the idea of "Year-round" calendar, especially because in the summer time I can barely focus on my work in the heat. So my final answer to the new system is no. I do not want the new system.     

Source/Bibliography

Kelly, Melissa. "Year Round Education." About.com 8th May 2012

<http://712educators.about.com/cs/reformtime/a/yearrounded.htm>

"Pros And Cons Of Year Round School" iloveindia.com 8th May 2012 <http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school-3964.html>