Schools encourage summer relaxation,
but some students use break for prepare
By:Beth Kressel
High schoolers get a jump on fall courses
There are many ways to measure a summer vacation. But for Anam Qureshi, a senior at Hillsborough High School, there are several specific benchmarks.
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Young students can relax during summer months Hillsborough elementary and middle school students will be reading at the public library and through various summer reading programs sponsored by businesses and institutions throughout New Jersey but only if they want to. Local elementary and middle school administrations view summer as a time of relaxation for all students. Students are encouraged to participate in local summer reading programs, including one at the public library, but are also told to take time off before the fall. "The students should relax and rejuvenate their batteries," said Harold Blackstone, principal at Auten Road Intermediate School. "We all need time to relax. They are going to be in a pressure-cooker world soon enough." The Triangle School has no formal summer reading program either, according to Principal Charlene Weicksel. She noted that the school does endorse several optional summer reading programs, including public library events and programs run by Princeton University and Commerce Bank. Princeton University provides the school with bookmarks that students mark with the names of 10 titles they read over the summer. If a student brings the list to Princeton University, it will give the student free tickets to a Princeton University football game. The Commerce Bank program also provides incentives for reading. Instead of sports tickets, the bank opens an account for the young reader that already has $10 deposited. At Triangle School, some teachers give take-home packets to students or lists of suggested readings. Then, if the children return to their old teachers in the fall having completed the work, they might get a certificate or some other reward. Research shows that academic regression often occurs for students, particularly in math, when they do not do any academic work over the summer. According to Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Summer Learning Web site, all students lose about 2.6 months of "grade level equivalency in mathematical computation over the summer months." And while middle-income students might experience "gains" in their reading abilities during the summer, low-income students lose an average of over two months. "Research does tell us that students experience learning losses over the summer months," said Mike Yaple, a spokesperson for the New Jersey School Boards Association. Yet Ms. Weicksel says there are a number of ways to learn over the summer without even picking up a pen and paper. "Parents can take the time to cook with their children, have their children help plan a trip or create a scrapbook of what they’ve done over the summer," she said. "There are so many learning opportunities in the course of life. When you’re going to the grocery store, you can discuss why food is organized in rows." For Ms. Weicksel, organized summer work is "unnecessary" if parents engage their children in enriching summer activities. |
She can go by the 25 to 30 pieces of art that must be completed by the fall for her advanced-placement course in the subject. She can pace the summer by the seven required novels for her advanced-placement literature class, by the four chapters in advanced-placement biology or by the 12 colleges including Brown University, her top choice on her college application wish list.
Who ever heard of the lazy days of summer?
These days, many Hillsborough High School students sign up for two, three or, like Anam, the maximum load of six advanced-placement courses a year. Hillsborough students could choose from 15 AP courses during the 2001-2002 school year, according to the most recent school report card. And the AP course list has only grown since that time Bob Fenster is teaching an AP course on modern Europe, a class that is being offered this fall for the second time at Hillsborough High School.
In all, the College Board the national nonprofit association that runs the Advanced Placement Program in addition to the SAT and the PSAT/NMSQT (standardized tests that are key to the college admissions process) provides 35 AP course offerings.
With summer homework a class requirement for many AP classes, students are learning to mark the summer’s progress by the number of books, essays and projects that they must complete by September.
Because AP classes prepare students for rigorous springtime exams that can lead to college credit, many teachers feel that summer work is imperative.
"There is much material and depth that it’s challenging, even with summer work, to fit everything in," said Mr. Fenster who teaches the AP section of U.S. history as well as AP U.S. government and politics, and AP modern Europe. "You really have a hard enough time fitting everything in."
In fact, this is the first year that Mr. Fenster will be requiring summer work for his AP government class. He realized that the English teachers were requiring extensive work from their students. And if they could jumpstart their own classes, he felt that he should require the same of his advanced students.
They will be reading two books this summer, one of which examines U.S. citizen apathy towards politics, and four case histories of their choosing on the history of the Supreme Court. They will be writing a response essay to the first book.
That is nothing compared to the English literature requirements for this summer. Seven books, a reading log, a letter of introduction, and letters to the student’s top college choices inquiring about each school’s policy of accepting AP credits, round out the to-do list.
Michele Ventura, who is taking two AP courses one in government and the other in literature understands the need for summer work but said, "It would be better if we had less.
"The scary thing is that I’m only taking two," she said. "Some of my friends are taking five."
Or, if you’re Anam, you sign up for six. Though Anam says that the summer work is "enriching and challenging and well worth it" and that she is pacing herself, even she acknowledges that she could face a backlog of work during the last weeks of summer.
With teachers given free reign in that department, some of the teachers themselves are beginning to wonder, "How much is too much?"
"The district needs to look at the summer work," said Mr. Fenster. "And work at explicating a district philosophy."
In the meantime, the homework keeps piling up and students continue to sign up for advanced-placement courses en masse. Many view it as a no-brainer considering the competition for college admissions. Everyone, it seems, desires a competitive edge; a transcript that will set them ahead of the pack.
"The population of the country is increasing, but the number of colleges is static," said Mr. Fenster to explain why so many students are signing up for so many AP courses.