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Comment by wiremine | Hacker News Reader

> a longer school year helps students stay focused

My kids (4th and 7th) attend a school with a year-round schedule, and we (kids and parents) love it:

* They are less stressed because there is more breaks throughout the year. Teachers seem less stressed, too, because they don't have to pack so much in.

* They retain more in the summer.

* Outside of academics: it's really nice to have the option to take longer vacations outside of spring break and summer break.

I'd love to see more schools move to it... 3 months off in summer seems very antiquated in hindsight.

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>I'd love to see more schools move to it... 3 months off in summer seems very antiquated in hindsight.

But what about those of us who need the extra hands to help with the harvest!?

Robots will soon replace the forced child labor. Oh won't somebody think of the poor displaced children?

False alarm. Turns out we've already replaced them with underpaid immigrant labor instead.

Wait, is this like common in the US? I thought our 6 week summer break in German schools was on the long side :)

This is definitely the norm in the US. Maybe it's not quite 3 full months, closer to 2 1/2, but there's a long enough gap that time is wasted refreshing information from the previous year.

Growing up in Upstate NY, I always assumed part of it was also due to the fact that breaks during the winter basically translate to hours spent cooped-up inside, watching TV or playing on the computer.

I know that the 3-month summer break stems from historical harvest/planting schedules... but when there's 20 inches of snow outside and the wind chill is -10 F, I'll take 3 months of summer vacay over 6 weeks of summer and 6 weeks of winter breaks any day.

The summer break is also often when the weather is the hottest. Many schools don't have air conditioning, but would need it to provide a conducive learning environment in the heat of the summer. A schedule change combined with a few degrees of climate change turns a few rather hot days a school year into weeks of being too hot to learn.

I grew up north of Edmonton (regular -40f for several weeks), and would have loved a 6 week winter break. Outdoor hockey & cross country skiing, snowshoeing, downhill skiing. I know I would have been out on the rink every day.

Current system: 2 weeks in winter and 10 in summer.

I don't think the alternative is 6/6. I think it's more like 3 in winter, 3 in summer, 3 in spring, and 3 in fall. Or even more spread out.

In the UK I believe ours is six weeks in the summer, two weeks Christmas, two weeks Easter, then one week in the middle of each term (three per year).

I'd have to actually check though, been a while.

Winter break is to save money on heating. Which is why it doesn't exist in lower latitudes of the US.

Just occurred to me, as "heat waves" become the norm for longer periods of time, I'm sure there will be people arguing for the cost-savings of not having to cool the school buildings during the summer.

Winter break very much exists in the bottom half of the US.

The mid-February break GP was alluding to doesn't.

In contrast I'm very happy with long Summer holidays at present. It gives us chance to spend extended periods together as a family and to help our children to follow their own educational goals rather than those dictated by central government. We're planning electronics, modern language learning, weir building, insect hunting, camping, outdoor pursuits, ... none of which they do in school here.

One nice thing about 3 month summer is the ability to get a temporary job. When I was in high school I worked every summer as a landscaper/food service/lifeguard/etc. and gained lots of experience/money I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. With year round school that doesn't seem possible.

Definitely. I probably wouldn't have been able to have done internships over the summer with year-round school. And, at least in my case, the internship(s) led to a full-time job at the same place years later.

I don't think you're losing anything in low-skill jobs like that by not working a continuous 3 months instead of 3 weeks at a time.

places definitely don't want to expend resources hiring someone for three weeks just to have them leave, then come back, in a cycle. they want 3 months all in a row.

I mean, you could say that about co-op programs that mandate a single employer as well.

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