Year round. The current schedule is agrarian and should go away.

Summers off. It is bad enough you don't get to enjoy the summer when you are a grown up. It can be really uncomfortable to be inside all summer in the areas that have four seasons. This is because the weather is not very good all year except for a couple of months in the summer. It is a shame for children to spend all their time in a classroom. They need a mental break.

Someguy is 100% correct. Having summers off is a throwback to farming days. Kids took three months off to help bring in the crops and take care of the animals. When did it turn into "those poor kids need a mental break"? Last I checked my kids didn't have to pick cotton or dig potatoes. You have the highest learning capacity as a child and wasting it in front of a television or video game for 3 months out of the year is a waste of the most important time in anyone's life. Not to mention the stress it places on families to find babysitters for younger kids when both parents must work to make ends meet. Or we can continue to fall behind in the global intelligence race.

summers off, so that kids who want to get ahead, can

Year round. Most children lose some ability during that three months off and it's hard to gain that back. It would also allow for lessons to be taught better, rather then trying to rush everything into a half a year (yes, kids go to school for literally half a year).

No. Not a 10 week break. There should not be a summer break of what works out to be about 10 weeks straight. My wife works in the local school system. She knows the sad state of kids being pushed through the system that shouldn't be. Most states require 184 days of school to be in session. That's about 6 months of attendance. Days lost include weekends, holidays, spring breaks, winter breaks, "sick" days the student may incur on their own, and the extended summer break. The last one being in existence because of long ago when children were needed to work at home, in the fields (where schooling was available in rural areas). In cities, when air conditioning wasn't even available, it was just merciful not to have children sweltering in classrooms. Today, the summer break is just accepted as fact and many who yell loudest at the prospect of a full school year are the parents who believe their children "deserve" summer vacation, or that it will interfere with their own planned vacations. The fact is that this country could well afford and NEEDS a full school year. A summer break of 4 weeks could afford enough of a break for students and parents. The U.S. ranks far below many other countries in education... Percent of 15-year-olds falling below international benchmarks: (source= http://top-education.info/ ) 1. South Korea 1.4 2. Japan 2.2 3. Finland 4.4 4. Canada 5.0 5. Australia 6.2 6. Austria 8.2 7. Britain 9.4 8. Ireland 10.2 9. Sweden 10.8 10. Czech Republic 12.2 11. New Zealand 12.2 12. France 12.6 13. Switzerland 13.0 14. Belgium 14.0 15. Iceland 14.0 16. Hungary 14.2 17. Norway 14.2 18. United States 16.2 When students return after 10 weeks of summer, teachers have to spend approximately 1 month reviewing all lessons in the subjects from the previous year, just to refresh the students, in order to proceed to the advanced lessons of the new year. Is it any wonder that the quality of education has continued to decline in the U.S. when parents fight the school system when homework is assigned, or even file lawsuits should their dumb-ass child be held back to repeat a grade? (source= http://pta.org/archive_article_details_1146587162031.html ) One-third of 18 to 24 y/o's surveyed could not find the state Louisiana, and almost half (48 percent) could not locate Mississippi on a U.S. map. On a more practical level, given a map of a hypothetical place and told they could escape an approaching hurricane by evacuating to the northwest, one-third would travel in the wrong direction. Japan is one country that uses a full-year school system. Is it any wonder they are kicking our butts in everything that requires an education? And the foundation for all success is education.