Summer Work is Too Much of a Burden

Reid Waxman, Associate Editor

Summer work has been around forever. At Benjamin, most students think of summer work as the English reading they are required to complete before school starts. Students all over the country complain about the requirement of having work over the break. Summer work is unnecessarily stressful and takes away from the fun of summer. 

Adding on school work during a school-free break is wrong. Summer can be a great way for students to find jobs and make money. This experience accomplished the goal of students returning back to school confident and ready to get to work. 

Students look forward to summer because of the stress-free break from deadlines, assignments, and tests; however, with summer work, Students spend countless hours on work for a class they have not even started yet. The type of stress that the students go through during a three-month break is more than you would expect. According to an article on npr.org, almost 40 percent of parents say their high-schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school

Another fun aspect of summer is the freedom that comes with having such a large period of time without academic commitment. Families have the ability to take long trips, students may choose to go to summer camp or spend time with their friends. Summer work makes it harder for families to plan for the summer. If families want to travel and go to different places, the students are going to have their minds on work rather than their vacations. 

Not only does summer work stress out the student, but it also negatively impacts the parents. The parents need a break from nagging their children to do their work. During the school year, families tend to have more tension throughout the home. It all comes with the stress of academics and occasional family life. When students have no summer work, it may decrease tension and allow families to have a calm and enjoyable summer. 

Although summer work is there to help the brain moving with knowledge, students don’t necessarily always do their best work when they are trying to get done with it quickly. Many students might skim through reading assignments or use a calculator during any math assignments. If students do not complete the work in an orderly manner, what is the point if it is not done right. 

Senior Sophie Marx thinks it is really easy for kids to cheat on their summer work, except English. The teachers do not have the ability to supervise students on if they are cheating or not.

“Summer work benefits nobody if all the students are cheating and teachers can’t supervise the students to make sure they are not cheating,” said Marx.

Schools use summer work as an opportunity to give the students the ability to “refresh valuable information over the break” according to an article on sptalon.com.Many students might disagree. Summer is a way for students to rest their brains and get ready for the school year. All of the work that is assigned before the year even begins actually adds another layer of stress going into the year. 

The idea behind summer work is to help refresh students’ knowledge of the work they learned throughout that year. Coming in fresh off a break, students might be more confident and prepared if they had no work going into the year.