Year-round school—three words that make most students cringe. Over 2.3 million United States public school students attended year-round school in the 2002-03 school year. Most schools operate on a 10— month system. This was established when the U.S. was still a largely an agrarian nation but times have certainly changed.

Year-round school doesn’t necessarily mean attending school all 12 months of the year. The number of days you attend school, 180 days, will remain the same but will be spread out differently with shorter breaks between each term. The most popular example of a year-round school system is the 45-15. Meaning students would attend school for 45 days and then receive 15 off in return. The normal breaks (holidays, spring break, etc.) will still be included into this. A key factor in year-round school is intercession meaning students have the option of going to school during their fall and spring breaks.

One reason behind year-round schooling, students tend to forget a lot of what they’ve learned over summer vacation. Also, many students appreciate the breaks during the school year and think of them as rest periods. Students can get a break from the classrooms without forgetting as much information. This would also help students focus during the school year.

While year-round schooling has some reported benefits, it also has some negatives. Since 1980, 95 percent of schools trying year-round school have returned to a traditional calendar. Thus, they have changed their calendar twice and had to suffer the disruption, frustration and wasted time that this entails. Some feel year-round school will help students not enter the “burn-out” period. But some who have tried year-round schooling have reported that student and teacher “burn-out” often increase with year-round school.

The “burn-out” feeling is one I often get through out the school year. I often find myself wanting to take “mental-health” days to catch up on sleep and just get a break from school altogether. I think year-round schooling could be beneficial in some ways. I feel it would be easier to remember more information; more specifically math terms. I also think it would be nice to have more spread out breaks throughout the year. Despite these benefits I find myself thinking of summer vacation, something I don’t think I could ever give up. Even though there would be a break sometime during the summer I don’t think I could deal with having to sit in a classroom when the temperature is in the high 90’s outside. It would be absolutely awful!