Replacing Grandma's Cheesecake: So, What's the Issue with Reconfiguring the School-Year.

How do you feel about extending the school day and going to a year-long school calendar?  Talk about a loaded question. Certainly, there has been a great deal of discourse surrounding this issue, and, of course, nothing seems to touch a cord with Americans as much as when they are asked to change the status quo.  We like what we are comfortable with, and that goes even more so with education. We’ve always had a 40 week school year and summers off, so it must be good, right?  Maybe, or maybe not, but if recent trends continue, change is coming. 

In spite of those trends, there will continue to be a great deal of debate as some districts and school boards resist, while many others will follow suit with this emerging trend. With that being said, the purpose of this post is to shed a little light on the issue and provide some balance, which I hope informs and allows for each of us to make the best choice for our kids when the question is inevitably raised in our locales. 

Without question, when most people hear “year-round” school, they immediately have a strong reaction one way or the other. One parent wrote, “I would hate it... These kids are burnt out. They need free time to play and have friends ....NO WAY TO LONGER DAYS AND GOING TO SCHOOL ALL YEAR... I ENJOY SPENDING TIME WITH MY KIDS... THE WAY IT IS SOME PEOPLE THINK OF SCHOOL AS A BABY SITTING SERVICE SENDING THE KIDS TO SCHOOL SICK.”  Obviously, as the CAPS declare, she has very strong feelings and legitimate concerns, but in reality, a year-round school calendar would still provide the aforementioned kids with extensive free time and still enable them to spend quality time with their family. 

Nevertheless, most people immediately envision a schedule that leaves no time for summer vacations and the necessary mental break all students require to be at their best.  In spite of those legitimate concerns, the reality is that the year-round model actually keeps kids from burning out and at the same time increases their retention rate, while eliminating the wasted time teachers spend re-teaching concepts that kids lose over the traditional 3 month summer break. 

How is that possible,  you say? Interesting that you should ask; so here is the reality of what a typical year-round program looks like: In the most common design, the school year is split into four nine-week terms followed by three-week vacation between each session.  So essentially, the sequence is 45 school days followed by 15 days off not including weekends; basically breaking the year into 4 quarters.  Other models provide 6 weeks off in the summer with 3 weeks off during the winter (holiday season) and another 3 week break in the spring.  Another less popular, but fiscally prudent plan creates a multiple track plan that has the same 9 week quarters, but is divided between 4 groups of students, who have different breaks, so that at any given time only 3 of the 4 groups are in session. This model allows for more students to be taught during the same time period, which in theory would cost less money, and lower the overall class sizes across the curriculum (For more information and an extensive list of data-driven research, see http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/year.htm ).

The obvious benefit is that because the grading periods are shorter and the breaks more frequent, the likelihood of burn-out is greatly reduced and therefore, as logic indicates, the absentee rates would also be significantly cut for the same reasons.

Another important factor to consider is that a large majority of teachers, about 60 percent, according to one source (see the aforementioned link), prefer the year-round model.  In that vein, a local teacher, and parent, says, “I have thought that with the right calendar, it would be wonderful. The kids would have better retention and with more frequent mini breaks, I think the kids won't get so burned out this time of year.”

Certainly, as she goes on to say, “As a teacher, I understand contractual issues with extending the school [year] with regards to pay etc., “ but the benefits more than outweigh those minor roadblocks.

Another veteran teacher explains, “I would be okay with year round. My sister’s kids are year round, they have the same amount of time off; it's just broken up more though out the year. I think our students would be less burnt out if they had breaks between quarters or longer time between semesters.” 

Of course, not all teachers feel the same way, as witnessed by the comments of one grizzled teacher, who believes that "if the U.S. wants to see our suicide rate double in teens, then go for it. Summer break is needed for students and faculty to recharge themselves and to learn effectively. It's not like a Corporate America job where you can hide in your cubicle for a day and "recharge" - there are no hiding spots in a classroom!”

While not everyone agrees about lengthening the school year, it is fair to say that the model as witnessed in competitively driven countries like Japan, does lead to higher youth suicide rates and more of the typically adult-onset health issues like ulcers and other stress-related maladies. However, the model we’d most likely see in the U.S. would assuage those undeniably valid concerns. 

Perhaps, the best answer is somewhere in the middle: As a young, but gifted teacher writes, even as he opposes the notion of year-round school, “First, I believe the school day should not be lengthened, nor should the school year. The breaks should remain the same in duration, but be spread apart more. We are no longer an agrarian/agricultural area that needs free labor in the summer and early fall. These kids can't afford to forget the precious information they learn in school in an age where that is true wealth: knowledge and skill sets that are marketable.” 

In spite of this uneasy dichotomy of opinion that surrounds this contentious issue, I have an uncanny feeling that much of the resistance really comes down to our emotional and psychologically conservative nature, which causes many of us to hold tight to what we know and have been accustomed to. Change is an uncomfortable thing, but is often the very element that leads to meaningful growth.

Yet, to be fair, sometimes it does make sense to keep things the way they are, and granted, like the traditional school year, your Grandma’s cheesecake recipe has worked for 3 generations-so why would we want to change it? More than likely, we’d leave the recipe the way it was. It tasted great back in the 1930s and it still tastes good today, but sometimes other factors alter the paradigm and it becomes imperative to reevaluate the process by which we make our cheesecake. Certainly, we need to look at the underlying reasons we do anything, then, at the same time, consider if technology or other relevant variables have changed the equation.  Sometimes, as difficult as it may be, we need to let go of tradition, especially if we find a better or more effective way to do something. 

Consider for a moment that Grandma’s recipe calls for ingredients that were perfectly fine in the 1950s, but a recent study proves that one of those main ingredients causes lung cancer or some other equally heinous affliction. While I certainly love Grandma’s cheesecake, as a parent, I’d have to strongly consider finding a different recipe that was safe for my family to consume, and despite my yearnings for Grandma’s delicious recipe, I’d do so with the primary determinant being what was best for them. Unquestionably, when we evaluate our feelings about going to a year-long school calendar, we must analyze all the factors and then, above all else, decide with our primary motivation being what is in the best interest of our children; even if that means breaking with tradition.

And really...isn't Eli's Double Chocolate Chip Cheesecake every bit as good, if not better than, your Grandma's cheesecake?