The school year in itself can be incredibly stressful for students, but now, students have to not only worry about academics during the school year, they also have to worry about school work during their summer vacation.
Between the stress of graduating and starting a new school, or even just making sure you can move up to the next grade alongside your peers, the stress of the workload can have a huge impact on students. The summer between school years, for many students and teachers alike, is a break from the pressure. The pressure of grades, of appearances, of the high standards most people in the education world are held and subjected to.
However, the implementation of summer assignments has ripped this break away from students.
The purpose of summer assignments is to help prevent what many call the “summer slide.” The summer slide can be described as the loss or forgetting of material learned in a previous year because it’s no longer front and center. When students are home on break, educators worry they will “forget” crucial information and knowledge, and implement these assignments to help them keep on track.
Many educators believe that summer assignments can be a way to see what students have held onto over the summer and what material they need to refresh and work on in the new school year. It can be a baseline for teachers who have never met the new cohort of students they are teaching, and help give them a “starting point” in the curriculum.
Although summer assignments are given and oftentimes finished, they don’t necessarily help prevent summer slide. Many students, especially ones who spend their summers traveling, working, or even those who didn’t hold up decent grades during the actual school year, are less likely to finish their summer assignment at a reasonable pace. Instead, they end up speeding to finish it the night before school restarts.
It’s also important for students, especially rising juniors and seniors, to come into the school year well-rested and mentally prepared for the workload about to be filed onto them. Rising juniors and seniors should not have to worry about summer assignments on top of SAT preparation, preparation to go into AP courses, completing college applications, or even just making sure they have stable jobs for themselves.
Summer break should be the time of the year where students can just be themselves; where they can live and learn to grow as individuals instead of as a group. While it is important that students grow academically at a good pace, it is not worth it to rush it. Summer assignments push students farther than they can physically go and often leave them confused, unfocused, or frustrated by the time the school year approaches.
Students who travel during the summer have it worse. They’re expected to live life as a child and are encouraged to enjoy themselves before they regret it, but at the same time, are also expected to spend their prime childhood years completing unnecessary reading and math assignments.
Although studies show that summer assignments can prevent necessary “rests” in students during summer break, the extra work also causes chronic stress, which can often lead to physical symptoms if too much for the mind. These assignments create unnecessary burnout coming into the school year, which has an even worse impact on students long term.
