Year-round education

It's summertime, and for many American students, school is out. It's time for pursuing all the studies that a busy academic schedule did not allow--reading new plays and advancing in math and science, history and art. It's time for visiting museums and attending concerts of baroque and classical music, or trying to advance in the understanding of architecture. It's time for starting to learn a new language and practicing the use of it in travels abroad. It could be a time for exploring some wilderness, or painting portraits with oils, or building and programing the robots to show at the next science fair.

Or just chilling. Summer vacations from school offer students ample opportunities to squander the talents that could be developed to generate peak experiences now and produce material and psychic rewards later in life.

In all probability, the lives of most students will fall between these extremes, although many will tend toward the latter, drifting as comfortably as possible through June, July and August, accomplishing little or nothing of lasting value.

A few students will get jobs and work and save money. They might be buying new clothes or even a car. They might be helping their families buy food or pay the rent. They might be taking trips to new places or camping with parents or friends. They might just count on having mostly relaxing times punctuated with a few pleasant, memorable events. Or they might see the breaking and entering of an apartment, the robbery of a store, the beating of a homeless person, or the murder of a schoolmate caught between gangs fighting over turf to sell drugs.

Of course, the experiences that grade school and high school students out of school are likely to have will vary with their backgrounds and economic status. Regardless of their environments, some will make more of their time off, or be able to make more of their time off, than others.

In any case, the need for more and better education for young Americans is evident. In some comparisons of students in the United States with students in other countries, Americans perform poorly. A poor rank is not just a stimulus to encourage competition to win a race with other nations. It is a revelation of our performance in the light of our ideals. It reminds us that we have some work to do to achieve our goals. We have a personal stake in the outcome of our efforts. It goes beyond earning recognition; it involves the fulfillment of our most cherished aspirations.

Among the proposals for improving the education of grade school and high school students is extending the school year: keeping kids in school for more days, reducing, perhaps drastically, the length of summer vacations. It is not a new idea, but one that continues to gain support.

Extending the school year would have many effects. The chief goal is providing more training for students, imparting more knowledge, helping learners develop new and useful skills. Extending the school year might accomplish some or all of this; if it does not, it is not worth the expense and effort.

Changing the hours of instruction or the number of days in a school year affects families directly. In many cases, parents and guardians would have to adjust their daily schedules to provide transportation or arrange supervision. And for those who plan to take extended trips in the summer, further adjustments would be necessary.

Some businesses could be affected. Campgrounds, motels, amusement parks and other businesses that serve tourists and travelers could see decreases in revenues.

Lengthening the school year would bring children and young adults more into sync with the working world of adults. It could help them develop the work ethic that will enable them to make worthy contributions to their communities and reap substantial personal rewards as well.

Many students and parents alike have come to believe that summer vacations are ensured by a right rooted in nature and protected by state law, the abrogation of which would cause severe and lasting emotional and psychological damage. But schools ought to provide safe and stimulating environments that foster intellectual and emotional growth and afford students opportunities to develop virtues that will serve them well into adulthood. Schools can and should help young people mature and become responsible, productive citizens.

Extending the school year ought not to occur without an additional effort to improve the quality of instruction and to increase the satisfaction of students with their programs of study. Making a bad experience longer is not progress. In fact, keeping students in bad schools for more days may do more harm than good. Schools ought to be more than daycare. If all they do is keep young people off the streets and out of trouble, schools might as well replace teachers with security guards.

But given a concomitant improvement in educational standards, extending the school year, at least a little more, will benefit students. That cannot help but improve American society as well.