The morning of August 3rd was cool and clear but MCCSC students woke up knowing they would not be able to enjoy the summer day. With the advent of school district’s “balanced calendar,” school has progressively started earlier each year and summer lengths have dwindled. The reason? MCCSC’s answer has been consistently ambiguous.
Some schools in the United States have had success with a calendar that shortens the summer and distributes school breaks more evenly over the school year. In terms of academic retention, there are some merits when students do not go over two months out of school. Advocates of the balanced calendar point to the fact that traditional school calendars are based on a now obsolete agrarian schedule. Progressive learning would entail making a calendar more conducive to the learning process.
However, what most of these advocates overlook is that a hefty summer can be extremely beneficial for kids and teens. The school system is not tailored to everyone and many people can benefit from learning in ways outside academia. A long summer vacation can give students ample time to travel, participate in outdoor activities and spend time with family and friends. The education system can be very rigorous and summer can offer a much needed break from the constant pressure and anxiety.
Regardless of these differing opinions, the balanced calendar that MCCSC has put into place is far from balanced at all. Students get multiple breaks over the fall semester but have only a meager week long spring break.
MCCSC’s calendar has no apparent benefit because it is not a true balanced calendar. The researchers who advocate for a balanced calendar system have only studied schools who have evenly spaced breaks over the whole year, unlike MCCSC
It’s due time to question the efficacy of MCCSC’s plan and advocate for a calendar that is actually beneficial to students. There are pros and cons to staying traditional or going balanced, but the current mix between the two offers absolutely no advantage to students at all.
Alex Rocha • Aug 26, 2015 at 10:10 pm
I completely agree. There are lots of learning opportunities outside of school. The school knows, they have so many activities. Without school in the way, over the summer people could focus more on the things they love and want to do in the future. Having a summer break allows people to organize themselves and set goals. “What do I want to accomplish the next school year?” or “What do I want to do in the near future when I go to college?”. Without college school is just a never ending cycle. People can’t stop and reorganize. Not every kid can do this, but a lot of people travel over the summer. People learn a lot by traveling. Instead of learning about cultures through a textbook you can learn first hand. Recently on the announcements they mentioned something about traveling to other countries with the school. The school offers this because it is a good opportunity. Without summer people can’t experience this learning opportunity.
Alex Rocha
I wanted to learn about the optimist, but I didn’t go to the stand during Purple Carpet Day. So I was wondering if I could still be on the email list to get info.
It is a good thing you are shining light on this subject it really is something people need to be aware of.
Ross Gleason • Aug 31, 2015 at 10:19 am
The problem with that type of thinking is that not everyone uses their summers wisely. There are those people that utilize the summer to learn about other cultures or spend the summer being productive, but there are the people that don’t do anything substantial over the summer and it’s those people who need school to start earlier. But either way, I’m all for a more balanced calendar because I’d rather have more breaks that only last one or two weeks rather than a few breaks that last a long time.
adviser • Sep 2, 2015 at 2:33 pm
Alex, come by the Optimist room, A125, and talk with Ms. Mills. She can fill you in on Optimist staff opportunities.