Over the years, there has been debate about technical colleges converting from quarter systems to semester systems. Some people feel a semester system will be better than the quarter system. Apparently, the Technical College System of Georgia agrees and converts the technical colleges to the semester system. Now students who are on the quarter system have to transition to the semester system. Students will have to cope with the new academic calendar, courses, credit hours, tuition, and financial aid. But will it be as easy as people think. The semester system is used by more than 80 percent of colleges and universities across the country (Crist). The other 20 percent is still on the quarter system. These changes will align the technical schools calendar with K-12 school systems and the University System of GA (TCSG). The quarter system was not aligned with the calendar making it harder for students to transfer to other colleges (Technical College System). The semester system will be better for students transferring because it will be easier and not as stressful. Because of the aligned calendar, the academic year will change. Instead of four quarters in an academic year, it will be divided into two semesters with the summer semester optional. With the semester system, classes will start early around mid August and get out early as well (Semesters vs. Quarters). Students generally get a major break about Christmas time. This will give a scholar time to spend with friends or family during the break. Students will get a summer break if they do not attend during the summer. The quarter system classes will start late in mid September and last until mid June. There is a break in December and a short break in March with the quarte... ... middle of paper ... ...ting to the semester system is not a terrible idea. Works Cited Crist, Carolyn. “Tech Schools Moving to Semesters.” Gainesville Times 13 July 2010. Web. 5 June 2011. http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/archives/35285 “Semesters vs. Quarters System: What’s the Difference?| Xatal 28 August 2008. Web. 25 May 2011. http://www.xatal.com/college/semester-vs-quarter-system-whats-the-differences/ Suggs, Ernie. “New College route Semester system will mean subjects per term.” The Atlanta Constitution 24 August 1998, Southeastern Newspapers, ProQuest. Web. 1 June 2011. “Technical College System of Georgia will convert from Quarters to Semesters by Fall 2011.” Targeted News Service, 27 October 2010. Web. 23 May 2011. “The Technical College System of Georgia Quarter vs. Semester Conversion: Quick Facts.” TCSG Semester411. Web. 25 May 2011. http://www.tcsgsemester411.com/
The traditional school calendar has been in effect for more than a century. By the middle of the nineteenth century rural areas the school year lasted for five to six months, based on the harvest schedule. In contrast, many schools in urban areas were open for eleven or twelve months. A uniform calendar was established in 1847 that is the traditional calendar of today. (Shields, 2000) There was resistance to this calendar from the beginning; people in urban areas had to go to school from much longer to receive the same education. YRE began in a premature form in 1904 in Bluffton, Indiana with a four-quarter schedule. (Speck, n.d.) YRE began to be popular in states like Texas, New Jersey, North Dakota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. It ceased during WWII because national uniformity was felt to be essential to the war effort. Hayward, CA implemented at official YRE programs at Park Elementary School in 1968 to become the first YRE school after WWII. (Speck, n.d.) YRE schools began to sprout up all over the country after that. In 1969 the first multiple tract school was established in Missouri. Since the late 70’s YRE has picked up in popularity and is a continuing trend. According to the National Association for Year-Round Education, more than 2 million students attend close to 3,000 year-round schools in 41 states and 610 school districts, which is a dramatic increase compared to the early 1990’s. There have been a variety of YRE schedules and currently there is the choice of single or multi-track, options within both of those, and an extended school year.
Former VSU President William McKinney adjusted the academic calendar by reinstating Fall Break and eliminating Dead Day. He knew that the constant debate of whether or not to have the two items had been prolonged enough. Dr. McKinney said he believed that his decision “serves the best interest of most Valdosta State students, faculty, and staff” (Edwards, “Dead Day Gone”). While the elimination of Dead Day should have benefited everyone the students didn’t benefit as much as the teachers, so Dead Day should be reinstated to allow students an extra day before finals to study and relax.
Year round schooling sounds rigorous, but in fact it is just a change in schedule. The traditional school year was made with farming families in mind when the families needed their children to help with the crops in the summer. That is why the traditional school year has a three month period where kids are not in school over the summer. In today’s modern world, that does not make any sense because now a days, big huge machines take care of the farms and crops. Also, our economy does not depend on the crops and farms like it did back in the 20th century. The year round school year would still require the same amount of school days as the traditional school year, which is 180 days in the classroom. But instead of a prolonged summer break, it would have a 45-15 plan. 45 days in school and 15 days out of it, which translates to nine weeks in school and three weeks off. The breaks would include three weeks off in fall, winter, spring, and summer. These breaks would be in nine week intervals.
...ch AMATYC Algebra Curriculum Reform.” 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.amatc.org/ publications/Electronic-proceedings/LongBeach22/Steinfort.pdf> Rimer, Sara. “First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard.” The New York Times. 13 Oct. 2007. 23 Jan. 2010 “Secretary of Education Richard Riley addresses Mathematicians.” American Mathematical Society. 8 Jan. 1998. 24 Jan. 2010 Williams, Mara Rose. “What’s A Degree Really Worth?” NorthJersery.com. 24 Jan. 2010. 24 Jan. 2010 Zernike, Kate. “Making College ‘Relevant’.” The New York Times. 29 Dec. 2009. 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03careerism-t.html>
Despite the fact that students would no longer be getting the two month duration break that they are familiar with, they still do get one. The change in the students schedule would be very beneficial allowing for the students, as well as the teachers to achieve their academic goals. I am certain that teachers can agree that it just frustrating having to re-teach material over again. Well by attending class year-round, teachers would be able to avoid re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer. There may be concern that a change in the curriculum or the teachers is just what is needed, but this is not what is going to change or improve student’s grades. In fact it is not that the material being taught that is too difficult; it is that the long breaks that are given cause students to forget what they were taught. These long summer breaks only disrupt a student’s education, resulting in loss of learning. School should go on year-round so that students have the chance to develop their
When we think of year-round schooling, we automatically think of no summer vacation. Across the country, schools are changing their schedules to a year-round curriculum. A year-round curriculum means that students and teachers no longer have two months of summer vacation. Some parents and teachers have enjoyed the year-round schedule, others do not approve. There are some schools that are implementing the year-round program to have more consistent instruction, while other schools are doing it in order to save money. Each schedule has its own pros and cons.
First of all, the year-round schedule doesn’t add any more school days than the traditional school calendar, it just distributes vacation time more evenly and frequently. Likewise, if your school ends up adapting year-round schooling, breaks will become shorter but you still get the same amount of days on vacation overall. After summer break, teachers can
Switching back to these classes will help us stay focused in class because of the shortened times. Also with these shorten I think that some students grades will get higher.
Educational debates are a widespread in today’s society. Currently, one of the largest debates in education is the debate of whether schools should stay with the traditional school calendar or change to a year-round calendar. The main focus of the debate is centered around the idea that using the year-round calendar will provide kids with a more consistent learning schedule, which in turn creates better grades within the school and cuts back on summer learning loss. Year-round calendar and traditional calendar are far different. Traditional school calendar provides ten weeks of summer break and year-round calendar provides a shorter summer break but more frequent breaks throughout the year. The frequent breaks provide families the opportunity to choose what school year would be the best fit for their family and also helps keep children motivated in school. With the information given many believe the year-round calendar will provide a better education by preventing summer learning loss, create a better calendar to fit certain lifestyles, and promote more motivation in school.
The first year-round school was opened in 1904 in Bluffton, Indiana with the intent to increase school-building capacity and improve student achievement (Palmer and Bemis). There are three types of year-round schooling; single-track, multi-track, and extended year. Single-track keeps all students and staff in the building at the same time running on the same schedule. Multi-track splits students and staff into different groups which follow different instructional and vacation schedules. There are advantages and disadvantages to all. A multi-track schedule allows a building to accommodate more students, but it poses the problem of having children from the same family on different school schedules (Palmer and Bemis). Extended year adds 15 to 20 days of instructional time which costs more money to school districts (Dessoff, 2011). Obama has called for longer school years to help American students compete with other countries of whose students attend school 25 to 30 percent longer than American students according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan (Dessoff, 2011). The three most common year-round schedules...
Have you ever wondered how we can improve students’ performance in school? A simple, but effective answer would be to implement the year-round school schedule. In a traditional school, such as ours, students study for most of the school year, and then have one long three-month summer break. But in a year-round school, students learn throughout the year, with frequent but shorter breaks in between. While the number of days spent in school is the same in both systems, the rearrangement of time in year-round schools is more conducive to learning. The year-round schedule should be effected in our school because it helps children retain what they learn and lessens the burnout of teachers and students.
Times Higher Education Supplement, Inc.
In the past school calendars have been subject to revision by a variety of factors including economic needs. Years ago society
First I need to explain that this is different from extending the school year; on a year round schedule, students attend school the same number of days-180-as students on the traditional nine-month calendar. The difference is that year round education (YRE) students have several short vacations rather than one three-month summer break. Most year-round schools operate on a multi-track calendar, and group students in three or four tracks with different vacation times. While one group is on vacation, another track is using the building.
Going to school and getting a great education is important for a successful future in today’s world. Years ago, many children did not go to school and many young adults opted to work instead of attending college. In today’s society, gaining a high level of education is almost always mandatory for many jobs. There are many changes being done to the education system along with new items and ways of teaching in the classroom. There is a growing amount of changes in the classroom such as technology, teaching time, teaching styles, and freedom of space.