Debating Year-Round Education 辩论全年教育

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Today we continue our discussion of school calendars as a new American school year begins.

Some people say the traditional calendar of one hundred eighty days no longer meets the needs of American society. They point out that students in most other industrial countries are in school more hours a day and more days a year.

Critics also say a long summer vacation causes students to forget much of what they learned.

Schools are under pressure to raise test scores. Some have changed their calendars to try to improve student performance. They have lengthened the school day or added days to the year or both.

This can be costly if schools need air conditioning on hot days and school employees need to be paid for the extra time.

Local businesses may object to a longer school year because students are unable to work as long at summer jobs.

Some schools have a year-round schedule. The school year is extended over twelve months. Instead of a long vacation, there are many short ones.

The National Association of Year-Round Education says almost five percent of public school students attend year-round schools. It says almost all of the states have some public schools that are open all year.

Some parts of the country had year-round programs in the nineteenth century, mostly for economic reasons. They felt it wasted money to use school buildings for only part of the year.

Year-round programs can also reduce crowding in schools. In one version, students attend school for nine weeks and then have three weeks off. The students are in groups that are not all in school at the same time.

Another year-round calendar has all students in school together for nine weeks and off for three. This is meant to provide the continuous learning that can be lost over a long break.

But year-round schooling has opponents. They say it can cause problems for families when they want to make summer plans. And they say it interferes with activities outside school -- including summer employment.

Some experts say no really good studies have been done to measure the effect of school calendars on performance. But some educators think year-round schooling especially helps students from poor families that lack educational support at home.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

这里是VOA特别英语教育报道。

今天在美国新学年开始时，我们继续我们的学校日程的讨论。

一些人说一百八十天传统学校日程不再适应美国社会的需要。他们指出：大多数其他工业化国家的学生在校一天有更多的课时而且一学年有更多的在校天数。

批评者也说一个长的暑假导致学生忘记很多所学知识。

学校迫于压力要提高考试分数。一些学校已经改变了他们的日程努力改善学生成绩。他们延长一天的上课时间或增加一学年的天数或双管齐下。

如果在暑天里学校需要空调并且学校需要支付雇员的加班费，这可能耗资巨大。

地方企业可能会反对较长的学年，因为学生无法在暑期长假岗位上工作。

有些学校有一个全年教学安排表。一学年被延长超过12 个月。不放长假但是有许多短假。

国家全年教育联合会说几乎5% 的公立学校学生上全年上课的学校。它说几乎所有的州都有一些公立学校是全年开学的。

全国部分地区在19 世纪有全年教育计划，主要是由于经济原因。他们觉得全年只有部分时间使用教学楼是浪费金钱。

全年计划也可以减少拥挤的学校。一种方式学生上学九个星期和然后有三个星期假期。学生们分组安排不必同时全部到校。

另一种全年计划日程是全部在校学生一起上学九周，放假三周。这意味着要准备为了不间断学习而能够放弃长假。

但是有人反对全年学校教育。他们说，对于要作暑期计划的家庭，它会引起问题。他们还说，它会干扰校外活动，包括暑期就业。

一些专家说，已经完成的研究不能真正很好地衡量学校日程表现上的影响。但一些教育界人士认为，全年学校教育对于来自缺乏家庭教育支持的贫困家庭学生有特别的帮助。

以上VOA特别英语教育报道，由南希·斯坦芭撰稿。我们的报道登在网上voaspecialenglish.com 。我是史蒂夫·安贝。