Published: July 22, 2008 08:48 pm         

Education

Year-round school may be best for 21st century students

We can hear the collective groan of children all over the state at the idea of going to school year-round. Perhaps even louder would be the groans of weary school teachers who live for their summers off.

However, Gov. Joe Manchin says county school boards and state lawmakers should begin investigating year-round schooling, a system he says could make for a stronger work force in the future.

Piedmont School in Kanawha County went to a year-round schedule in 1996 at the urging of Principal Steve Knighton, and two other Charleston elementary schools, Glenwood and Chandler, followed suit a year later. The West Side school, now under construction, will also adopt a year-round schedule.

Manchin and other proponents say the new schedules would help build a stronger workforce in the future.

A year-long schedule would include four 3-week breaks. In other states and in the Kanawha County schools now using this plan results show that short, frequent breaks help keep children interested in learning and improve their behavior.

There are also many underprivileged children who go without a hot meal every day when they are not in school. For them, a long summer break is more of a hardship than many of us realize.

Working parents would have fewer childcare costs, and, perhaps, more importantly, children wouldn’t lose so many of their reading and math skills.

Many elementary school teachers struggle at the beginning of the fall term to get students back up to par in their courses, because they’ve fallen so far behind during the long summer break.

Although some might argue the plan would be more costly for schools, the quarterly three-week breaks equal about the same amount of time as a summer vacation. Costs should be close to the same.

Manchin has suggested at least one school in each county try the idea for one year.

It’s an idea that’s definitely worth strong consideration.

The summer break originated out of a farm culture in which children needed to help with harvesting and canning. Today’s culture calls for high school graduates who are computer-saavy and proficient in reading, writing and math skills. Shorter breaks and more concentrated time in the classroom may very well be the best plan for students in the 21st century.