Los Angeles Students Speak Out on the Year-Round School Plan

I am an eighth grade student attending Palms Junior High School, an uncrowded school which will probably not be converted into a year-round school. But in any case, I am for year-round schooling.

Since the topic of year-round schooling has come up, I’ve realized how ignorant, fake and selfish some people really are.

In class when we’re discussing the topic, I get so irritated when a student says, “Why can’t the board members see it from our point of view?” What point of view? Students arguments are, “When are we supposed to get a job?” Haven’t these people ever heard of after school for maybe a couple of hours? Then the really ignorant ones reply with, “But what about our homework?” When have these people ever wanted to do homework? I think students just simply don’t agree with year-round schooling because they can’t stand the thought of not having a three-month vacation.

I think parents are even worse when they try and use the argument, “But what if my children get put on different tracks? How can we all take a vacation? Besides, two weeks isn’t enough time to vacation!” This is the worst argument of them all!

The parents are the ones that are always nagging us about being smart, how our number-one value should be education, how we have to push ourselves to get a perfect report card and so on. Then they have the nerve to go on arguing how two weeks isn’t enough time to take a family vacation. These parents just don’t realize how having year-round schooling would be a continuous educational program because we won’t have those long three-month vacations to make us forget practically everything we learned the previous year.

Teachers even have a plus. For single teachers, especially, they won’t have to worry about not having any income for the summer.

CINDY KIM

Los Angeles