Year-round school harms teachers and students, should not be implemented

Ansley Tanner, Staff Writer

Literature textbooks in Roswell High that should be untouched for the 2.5 months of summer break. Credit: Ansley Tanner

Roswell High is slowly transitioning into having year-round school and more frequent breaks throughout, which should not happen for the sake of the students. If summers continue to get shorter and are transitioned into long weekends during the year, students and teachers will become overworked and mental health problems will increase. As of right now, our high school has a school year with a few breaks and a summer break around 2.5 months. However, summer gets a few days shorter each year, and Cobb County has taken a week off of their summer and now has a fall break, unlike Fulton County. 

Imagine a world where students have to come to school everyday for the majority of the month, even in months such as June and July. This would not give students the months of leisure time that they need to regroup themselves. The work from teachers would quickly pile up and get to be too much for a student to be successful in school. Not only does the workload harm the students, but it also stretches the teacher’s ability to make lesson plans consistently. There will not be enough time to map out the school year and keep up rigorous courses. Summer is a time for students and teachers alike to rest and prepare themselves for the coming school year. 

Ask any student, and from the first day of school, they are already looking forward to summer break. With year-round school, there will be nothing to look forward to that is a long enough break to come back refreshed. These short breaks will also not allow for the leisure of taking extravagant vacations that many families like to take during summer break. 

“I believe we should have summer because it gives students a better chance to travel and go to summer camp, or do something out of their comfort zones,” stated sophomore Caroline Loftus

All of the days in this long break contribute to a person’s well-being. The constant work that would need to be done during year-round school would take a serious toll on the mental health of the Roswell student body. “…school, correlates, over decades, with sharply increased rates of psychiatric disorders in young people, including major depression and anxiety disorders” (Psychology Today). School with a summer break already causes mental illness, this will only escalate in year-round school. 

Some may argue that students will be more productive due to constant stimulation in year-round school, however this is illogical. Students already have trouble recalling information on a Monday after a two day weekend, and will definitely have problems taking a week break each month. Overall, year-round school will cause students and teachers alike to be overworked and unstable in their mental health. This transition would not provide proper time to rest, take vacations or prepare for the next school year.