A lot of primary and secondary schools in many countries are closed in the summer holidays for about 2 or even more months. There have been some complaints from parents about such short school holidays, as they argue that there is simply not enough time for their kids to unwind after the school year. On the other hand, professionals say that extended holidays can distract students, leading to poor preparations for the upcoming school semester. In my opinion, the education system should stay the same way as it is now, despite the critiques.
To start with, longer summer holidays could be really helpful, as they would be able to relieve students’ stress that might have occurred during school. For instance, many children experience tiredness and frustration because of difficulties with their classes, and in some cases, with extracurricular activities as well. This issue causes the concerns of parents who worry about their kids’ mental and physical health, but all that can be fixed by ensuring that pupils get as many school-free days as they will need. Moreover, holidays would also be beneficial for teachers, since working with children can get pretty tiring as well. Therefore, if schools decide to extend their summer holidays, it would be efficient for all of the parties involved.
However, some professionals could argue that summer vacations that are too long could turn out to be very distracting in the actual practice. This could be explained by the fact that at least half of students nowadays are suffering from short attention spans and lack of interest. So giving them more time to rest could potentially make this problem worse. For example, teachers are expressing their troubles with reintroducing their pupils to last year’s topics, because only few of them actually study in summer. With this in mind, longer holidays would require a complete renovation of the curriculum to make sure that all children would keep up with their classes.
In conclusion, despite all of the advantages of extended holidays, introducing them would take a lot of time and changes. Considering that they do not seem especially necessary, they would not be worth all of the sacrifices.