<p>In preparation for taking the ACT w/ Writing on Dec. 8th, I'm writing a few practice essays since that tends to be my weakest point.</p>
<p>Warning: The essay included is probably the poorest example of writing (well, that wouldn't be fair to my Florida Writes essay...) but I'd just like to know what score it would hypothetically receive were it an essay I wrote on an actual exam.</p>
<p>I appreciate any comments and criticism.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Prompt:
Schools in some states have changed their school calendar so that they are now year-round schools. Advocates of year-round schooling argue that the traditional summer break is a waste of students' time that could otherwise be spent learning. Opponents charge that today's students are already overburdened with the stresses of school, and need the summer to get a much-needed break. In your view, should the traditional three-month summer vacation from school be maintained?</p>
<p>In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on this question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.</p>
<p>My Essay:</p>
<p>"Hey Nick, how was your summer vacation?" asks Tom. "Was pretty fun. Played video games and stuff", replies Nick, "didn't do much though".
This mock conversation is a prime example of why the continuous three month vacation break should be changed for the much more efficient year round schedule.</p>
<p>As a student, I personally feel that I forget much of the academic material I am taught after I've spent three months completely academically dormant. Proven studies show that a brain which is not continuously exercising degrades over time. Thousands of millions of tax dollars are spent to ensure a proper education to kids, but most of this money is better off thrown away if kids tend to forget the material. A long break from learning is purely detrimental to the knowledge formation of kids. In the year round calendar, students spend at most one month without going to school. This permits teachers to spend less time reviewing previously taught subjects, and instead spend more time diving into new material, thus more learning and less banality takes place.</p>
<p>Furthermore, when was the last time one heard of a student actually using his summer vacation time wisely? One doesn't! Kids either waste countless hours stationed in front of a TV or computer indulging in health-threatening activities. These kids have no hope of learning any sort of time management skills. School officials are doing a disfavor to the young population by destroying any possiblities of its growing into a population of responsible adults. Kids do not have stressful lives! They do not require any extensive three month fun time spa. The short and spread out breaks in the year round approach are more than suffice in providing children with the free time they need to alleviate their burdens.</p>
<p>One might argue though that summer break is the only time a family vacation can be taken, and that breaks found in the year round calendar are too short for these activities. Although this does hold some truth, more than three quarters of school calendars include a two or three week continuous break around the end of the year holidays, and a one month break in the summer time. Most guardians of students can't take nearly such long vacations away from their work, so these breaks are more than sufficient in the majority of cases.</p>
<p>It can be seen, in conclusion, that there is a plethora of advantages to the year round system over the traditional system, even though no single calendar can be perfect. The year round is a great alternative since it removes the loss of retention of knowledge of a child, refrains from providing unnecessary time which tends to be wasted but still provides enough time to take family vacations.</p>
I agree; I for one can type probably 10 times faster than I can write.</p>