Drum corps and year round school?

[CourtOfHonorMember]

Do any of you guys attend year round school and still march? Is this possible? If all school systems change to this calendar, will this destroy the junior corps activity?

[Malibu]

This was discussed here;

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums//ind...t&p=1579669

[flashofthunder]

Sorry, but after scouring that topic, I found no discussion of year round school.

If you don't know, year round school is school that's year round. Instead of a summer break, a student may attend schhol for a few weeks then take several weeks off. The idea is that students will not have three months to forget all the information they learned.

IMHO, it is a very stupid idea to have year round school. It takes away from summer activities one could participate in, and does not really provide better retention of materials taught from what I've heard. There was talk a few years ago of my school district switching to a year round schedule, but the proposition faced such vehement opposition from students, teachers, and the community in general that it was stricken before it even reached the schoolboard's agenda.

I personally do not know what a way around the schedule could be, unless you enrolled in a private school around your area with a more standard schedule. I'm sorry to say it, but you may have to wait until college.

[jonnyboy]

It will never happen. For whatever reason we have summers off in the first place, we are stuck with it. From summer vacation plans, work (teachers and students), summer activities etc there would just be too much to change to go to a year-round schedule. Heck, just imagine the cost of keeping schools open for three more months (teachers, staff, busses, utilites etc)? The public won't go for it, the govt won't go for it, and if the kids have a say, they won't go for it either.

[mello_laurel]

There are schools that do it and the number, I believe, is increasing (at least it was last time I checked). I highly doubt, though, that the number of schools will be large enough, at least in the near future, to have an impact on the drum corps world other than a few individuals (not that these people don't matter, but I don't think it's something that can't be dealt with on a case-by-case basis).

edit: punctuation issue.

Edited September 18, 2006 by mello_laurel

[jwillis35]

Yes, I agree with the others that have said it will not happen. There are some schools that will try a true quarter system in which they have classes for 10 weeks, then off for 3, then 10 weeks again, off for 3, then 10, off for 3, and back to the final 10 weeks.

The problem this can cause is pretty significant in most districts. Students need time to graduate and prepare for college, and that system would not allow this. College would be starting almost immediately after a kid graduates from HS.

You would have to put teachers on 12 month contracts, and in most cases they are not at this point. I highly doubt salaries would change, the teacher would simply bring home less money per month over 12 months. This would not be the case in every district, but in many it would.

Year-round schooling also hurts the summer activities that kids need so badly, including band, corps, scouts, baseball, soccer, church camps, orchestral festivals (which usually run 8 to 10 weeks), and the like; and if families are forced to find time for vacation in those 3 week-off periods, then the chance that such activities could truly prosper becomes even less likely.

The year-round schooling issue came up in part because our government has pushed for increased standards testing. They are putting the pressure on teachers to get the kids up to speed, if you will, so the schools simply counter by coming up with all kinds of ideas to aid in the learning process, and year-round schooling is one of those ideas.

The biggest problem with learning in this country is that our state school boards, in combination with the Government, have applied too much pressure to the core subjects (math, science, English, history) without properly addressing the additional curriculum, or extra-curricular specialties, that aid and bring life to the core subjects. Without the combinatiuon of the two the education we propose and enforce is as lifeless as some of the school buildings it is being taught in.

Any curriculum that does not allow the students to apply the creative to the core, and that ONLY addresses national standardized testing as a means of achievement and need, has only addressed one kind of learning, and sadly that kind of learning leads to a dead education. The schools must ultimately realize that they can't do it all, that community organizations, churches, and, most importantly, parents are key to the learning and finalizing process. So it is not necessary for schools to hog all the time, nor should they be year-round. If parents are doing their job and allowing the home, the church, the many community opportunities, and others, to finalize the education of their children, then 8 to 9 months of public or private school is all that is needed.

Year around schooling simply tries to fix a much greater social and family-related problem in this country, and all it can really do is apply a band aid under the false banner of standardized testing.

Edited September 18, 2006 by jwillis35

[bluecoats88]

It will never happen. For whatever reason we have summers off in the first place, we are stuck with it. From summer vacation plans, work (teachers and students), summer activities etc there would just be too much to change to go to a year-round schedule. Heck, just imagine the cost of keeping schools open for three more months (teachers, staff, busses, utilites etc)? The public won't go for it, the govt won't go for it, and if the kids have a say, they won't go for it either.

the original reason for the summer break for students was so that children could help their parents bring in their crops since our country was big on agriculture a while back. Now there is not so much need for this, however as others have stated the summers have become a time for certain activities which will fight against the year round school idea.

[sburstall]

the original reason for the summer break for students was so that children could help their parents bring in their crops since our country was big on agriculture a while back. Now there is not so much need for this, however as others have stated the summers have become a time for certain activities which will fight against the year round school idea.

Here in Michigan they are trying to pass a law that schools can't start until after Labor Day. We as in the past it was a family/agriculture issue like you said John, today is big money, esp. with tourist industry. Guess we know where the US put's thier priority.

[shawn craig]

I thought someone on the other thread said Wisconson had a law about how early schools could start.

I taught in a district that "tried" a modified year round schedule. We had a two week fall break, two weeks for Christmas, a two week spring break, and 6 weeks for summer. I honestly don't think it helped the kids at all. It hurt teachers who's own children were on a traditional school schedule, or who had to pay extra weeks of day care for preschoolers.

As someone else said it has an impact on the budget, which ultimatly killed it.

For those students and families who need and want academic support, there is summer school.

[MikeD]

Here in Michigan they are trying to pass a law that schools can't start until after Labor Day. We as in the past it was a family/agriculture issue like you said John, today is big money, esp. with tourist industry. Guess we know where the US put's thier priority.

I think NC did just that.