Year-Round Schooling Part 3

Having looked at the academic and social/political issues around year round schooling, I think it is also appropriate to discuss some personal issues with year round schooling.  To do this, let’s suppose we were to agree that all the academic and political issues around year round schooling are neutral: there are no academic gains or losses, and no differences in financials.  The question, then, is how personal opinions and preferences play into it.

It is reasonable to think that some families will have an easier time with child care if there is year round schooling, but it’s probably not possible to come to a definitive statement as to what segment of the population is better suited to year round schooling for logistical reasons.  This once again returns us to the question of what is better: a longer summer break or distributed breaks in summer, winter and spring.  While I earlier argued for outdoor experiences during school breaks, summertime is not the only the time the outdoors can be enjoyed.

Some people may content that summer break activities will shift and adapt to a new school schedule.  For example, bike camps could be offered in April.  Clearly this is possible but also likely to be undesirable.  I was on a mtb ride this morning and passed about 40 kids in 4 different bike camp groups, all on the lower slopes of Mount Fromme.  That most definitely is not going to happen between the months of October to May.  I think most people or kids would rather do outdoor camps and activities during the summer, rather than in April when there is a good chance the weather can be rain and 12 °C.  Furthermore, outdoor activities would be restricted to low valleys and ski activities, due to snow levels.  Water activities would be out of the question.

I have also heard arguments that outdoor summer activities can be substituted with other activities like dance programs, indoor sports programs, and trips to warmer climates.  All these suggestions make some sense, if you can afford them, but as a whole I think they are a poor substitute for summer adventures.  Our own family has the following planned for this summer:

• Backpack trip to Cheakamus Lake
• Camping trip on Vancouver Island
• Camping trip in the Okanagan
• 1 week bike camp
• 2 week swimming lessons
• Backpack trip in Manning Park
• Summer Day camp
• Trip to the East Kootenays, Lake Windermere, Sun Peaks Resort
• Mountain bike trip in Revelstoke
• Beach days around Vancouver

Ultimately I think it would be a shame to lose the above opportunities.  Obviously other families wouldn’t do as much as us, and some would do more, but I think it would be a waste to replace a season-dependant activity with one that is not.  For example, a child could do an aquarium camp any time of year, even as an after school program, but camping can only comfortabely be done during a short period of time of the year.

I’d like to end this series with a thought that has come to me while reading various articles about summer school and year round schooling.  It is common to read comments that “it is about the kids.”  From what I’ve seen though and considering what the research tells us, the debate around school in summer is almost never about the kids, and losing opportunities for summer activities is not typically compensated for by spring or winter activities.  In the end, I believe that arguments for year round schooling are based on finances and personal preferences at the cost of losing outdoor experiential learning.  Year round schooling has precious little to do with actually improving what happens in school.