While students in Arcadia High School, San Gabriel High School and Gabrielino High School relax during the holiday season, TCHS students spend their break stressing over final exams. Because the school year begins later, the semester ends three weeks after winter break, creating a large inconvenience for students.
Seeing that students take their finals after winter break, official first semester transcripts are not available as soon as colleges would like. Counselors are unable to send transcripts on time for seniors who are applying to multiple private schools.
Student athletes also have complications. CIF determines when sports seasons begin and end, which naturally, accommodates to the majority of schools. However, the TCHS school year begins later than usual, which affects practices. For instance, this year’s fall sports season began over a week before the the school year started. Teams such as girls volleyball consequently participated in more summer practices in order to prepare for the season.
Not to mention, local schools plan games according to their finals schedule so their students have a lighter workload. Athletes played a total of 10 games the week before winter break and an incredulous 24 during finals week. Students spent their hours afterschool practicing and competing instead of fully committing to their studies.
The length of summer breaks should also be changed. A recent study by The Globe and Mail proved that longer summer breaks can negatively affect a student’s achievement during the school year, especially for higher grade levels.
In Canada, schools that forego the traditional nine-week break have reported better performance.
To compensate for the shorter summer breaks, the district can plan to have more one or two-day breaks throughout the year. With more breaks, students will have opportunities to catch up on assignments and get much needed rest, decreasing stress and improving overall academic and athletic performance.
For several years, there have been efforts from high school staff to revise the school year’s calendar for more convenience, but with little results. A mutual consensus between members of the school board and teachers determines the calendar, so elementary and middle school teachers should vote in favor for a new change that can help both staff and students.
If students strongly believe that the school year schedule is negatively affecting their academic and personal lives, then they must actively advocate for a change at school board meetings and take advantage of the power that they have. Students’ voices are more powerful than silent inaction.
Schools are supposed to help students find and pursue goals. If schools are incapable of doing so with the current calendar, then what is the purpose of keeping it?