Misconception #122: We need to move to year-round schools to address the summer slide

Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.

---

Nothing truly learned will be forgotten. What do people forget? What they have memorized. This is especially true with short-term memory.

Some people want year-round schooling to address the summer slide. What is the summer slide? It's the idea that students forget what they learn when they are out of school for the summer. Teachers have complained that when a new school year starts, they must reteach what their students lost.

The problem with this idea is that the value of the content lost is minimal. No practical learning is lost. What they are losing is a series of low-value facts that don't come up during the summer due to their limited value. Even if students remembered through the summer, they would likely forget eventually. If teachers focused more on practical learning rather than memorization, there would be no summer slide.

Forcing children to go to school during the summer won't change this. Sure, they might remember the material longer, but they won't end up any better educated as a result. Why should students be punished for the misguided approach taken by their teachers?

Although I openly oppose using the misguided belief in sacrificing learning in favor of memorizing as a means of taking away summers, I should probably clarify something. I believe education should be open, accessible, and fluid. I do not support schools investing in educational resources just to lock them away for the summer. I am open to establishing year-round programs. I am open to providing students more flexibility in establishing when they are allowed access to resources. Simply put, I reject all efforts to either require or prohibit use of educational resources during the summer months.