#11: Summer assignments? How about no.
I love summer vacation. I really do. However, the more I progress into higher
levels of education, I'm actually starting to love summer just a little less
than I did before. Now what on earth could make me slowly begin to dislike
summertime, you may ask? Hmm. Let's explore all the reasons as to why such a
feeling could have ever possibly---oh that's right. Summer assignments. And
lots of it.
Summertime brings with it a connotation of a peaceful,
serene, relaxing, stress-free environment. Add a pile of homework in with it and
such a image shatters into a heartbreaking million pieces. The truth of the
matter is that summer homework not only makes students miserable but it also
manages to get to the tempers of parents as well. Through the supposed
"vacationing" period, students are constantly stressing over summer
work and their minds are so clouded with this notion that they must finish the
assignments on time that they are unable to truly enjoy their vacation. This in
turn causes the stress of the parent as well since it pains them to see their
child frustrated in a time of relaxation, especially after their child has
suffered a long, tiresome school year. In all honesty, summer homework isn't
really effective in accomplishing what it so strives to do. Summer homework, in
theory, is supposed to stimulate the minds of students and keep them active in
a time of "inactivity." Ha. I don't think so. Studies done by Duke
University which consists of a review of more than 175 experiments clearly
indicate that there is little, if any, correlation between the amount of summer
homework a student does and his test scores and/or his long-term achievement. This,
quite clearly, should prove that such assignments are nothing but a hassle.
Furthermore, summer assignments, again, in theory, are not only kept in play to
keep students active but they are also supposed to help students practice
skills they may lose over the summer. However, let's be real for minute. If
students can't regrasp and replenish information they've learned in previous
years after a brief review of them on the first few days of school, maybe, and
I mean no offense when I say this, those subjects weren't taught well enough or
in-depth enough in the first place. Moreover, the idea of summer homework is so
repulsive to students that a certain trend is becoming very evident. Students
are either rushing through the assignments at the start of summer--I would
assume to get them out of the way--or cramming to get them done at the end of
summer. Either way you look at it, students are still furiously speeding
through them, making sure that they get done in a quick amount of time. The
focus of the students during this time when they completes the work is not at
all in the academic arena. Their minds are drifting to other, dare I say,
"funner" things, and most of the time they are more concerned about
completion rather than accuracy. Furthermore, how can such work be beneficial
if students are left to do a mountain of work with no help from the teacher?
It's not.
Nevertheless, yes, I must admit that there are certain things that summer
assignments do do effectively. Summer assignments do keep students academically
steered and ensures that education should still remain a part of their lives
even in such times of inactivity. However, these assignments will also severely
affect the way students perceive school. At the start of the school year,
students will already feel tired as they were burdened with a stack of homework
to finish. Thus, they will not feel joy in learning new material. Students
should instead feel replenish and ready to attack a new school year. They
should not already feel worn out at the beginning.
All in all, summer assignments are not very effective. Summer
assignments are not the answer to keep students "motivated" as it
does everything but. It's time to reconsider the so called benefits of such a practice.
works cited
George, Donna.
"Summer Often Spells No Vacation From Homework." Washington Post. N.p., 05 Aug. 2008. Web. 03 May 2013.
<http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-08-05/news/36865169_1_summer-homework-students-work-educators>.
Kalish, Nacy.
"The Crush of Summer Homework." The New York Times. NY
Times, 31 Aug. 2012. Web. 03 May 2013.
<http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/the-crush-of-summer-homework/>.
"OPPOSING
VIEWPOINTS: SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS." The Current. N.p., 17 Sept.
2012. Web. 03 May 2013.
<http://www.thecurrentonline.org/opposing-viewpoints/2012/09/17/opposing-viewpoints-summer-assignments/>.
I think that summer assignments sound good in theory but because students are only human, they don't work in practice. Like you said, everybody I know just waits until the last moment to do the work. But there is an advantage in that summer assignments "warm up" the brain just enough before school starts.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I could not agree with you more. As I've gotten older the term "vacation" has lost its meaning immensely. I thought the purpose of it was to rest our brains from school for a brief period of time, and simply enjoy our lives a bit for a change. But nope, we have the burden of getting our summer assignments completed throughout all of vacation. Yes, perhaps they save a bit of time by not having to do that work in the school year, but maybe the curriculum needs altering in order to fit into the 180 days schedule that we have.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you for the most part, but I also feel that they do help for some classes. An example is ap chemistry, which recently switched from being a year-long class to a semester long class. We would not have been able to finish the curriculum had we not reviewed the first three chapters of the textbook over the summer. However, as far as other assignments go, I do not think they are worth the time and effort.
ReplyDeleteI think summer assignments are just being given for the sake of being given. They're not needed at all for some classes, while as Carter said they are needed for some. Classes like AP Biology don't need a summer assignment at all, it was just there for the sake of it. Students should be able to be students, not always "preparing for adults". If we always prepare for adulthood, when do we get to be kids?
ReplyDeleteI think summer assignments are a complete waste of time because teachers expect you to do all this work during your "break" from the 10 month school year. Teachers usually test on these assigned topics, but no one ever remembers the concepts. It is suppose to give us a head start into the semester, but what it really does is stress me out for no reason.
ReplyDeleteI believe summer assignments are also a waste of time. Most people don't even remember the material that will be expected to be tested on. For example, if you are required to be quizzed on a certain topic, the people who have procrastinated will have an advantage to the people that actually did the assignments early. Summer assignments only foster the bad habits of procrastination and school should be fostering the good habits to benefit student learning.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree as a student that I dislike Summer Assignments, I actually feel like they help students when done properly. In elementary school I completed a program called Kumon, throughout the year and over the summer in English and Mathematics and I feel like that really helped me retain information that I would have forgotten if I hadn't done. Also, in many classes like APUSH and APEng, which we did summer assignments for, as you know, some subject material was covered so that we didn't have to spend time we didn't have in class going over it.
ReplyDelete