It had been a long-awaited four months from the beginning of school, besides three meager days off for Thanksgiving, to last year’s winter break. The treacherous Chicago winter was already in full swing, and I was more than ready to put my first semester of high school behind me. Needless to say, I was ecstatic for some much-needed R&R. My family journeyed on a trip for such an occasion. It was truly a picturesque scene: the moment I stepped off the plane, the humidity hit me right in the face, the sun beamed in my eyes, and soon enough I was standing on the pool deck staring at the enthralling ocean. Everything was just as I desired it to be. My long-awaited break had finally arrived. That is, until I opened up my computer to the tab that showed my calendar for the week returning to school. My two-week hiatus from my regular scheduled life quickly turned into an anxiety-producing, tension-filled vacation. The topic I told myself I wouldn’t dare to think about during my minimal time of relaxation loomed over my head for the entirety of the break: finals.
The only way to solve the issue of having finals after winter break is to simply move up the entire calendar. Without moving up the start date of the school year, there is no solution that would logistically work to ensure that finals would be before winter break. This is because the first and second semesters would become uneven in length. School must start before Labor Day in order to make each semester about four months, while guaranteeing that finals take place before winter break. According to Bridge Michigan, in 2019, 78% of districts across the U.S. started school before Labor Day. Furthermore, in 2023, the Pew Research Center conducted a study which determined that 80% of 1,573 public school districts across the country started school before Labor Day. As the trend of beginning the school year in the last weeks of August is rippling throughout the nation, it would be in Parker’s best interest to follow suit.
Dating back to the 1800s, school calendars were based on prime agricultural months. Students in rural districts had different schedules than students living in urban cities due to the fact that the majority of students worked on their local farms. This created an overall sense of confusion and an imbalance in the quality of education between school districts. Due to the lower attendance rate of students living in rural areas in the summertime and the idea of vacationing in the warmer months becoming more popular in urban areas, in the early 1900s, a uniform school calendar was established. The basic guidelines included a 180-day requirement of instructional time. The time frame in which this occurred was up to state and district discretion, with the typical time frame beginning just after Labor Day and ending in the early weeks of June.
However, the school system schedule as it was designed over 100 years ago is a relic of history. Each year, more and more schools are transitioning to a schedule where start dates are in mid to late August and end dates are at the end of May. As a private school, Parker’s administration has full authority when creating our academic schedule for the year. We do not need to follow in line with Chicago Public Schools or even other independent schools. That being said, Parker chooses to stray away from these other institutions’ strides in starting the school year before Labor Day. This act of difference has proved to be more hindering than helpful to Parker students and staff. This is why it is so mind-boggling that we are one of the only independent schools in the city of Chicago that starts after Labor Day, and for seemingly no good reason. By starting late at the beginning of the school year, our whole schedule for the year is pushed back. To have even semesters and a finals period before winter break we must start school in mid-August. This helpful change will not only alleviate the stress that students feel during our longest, most necessary break of the year, but will ultimately make it so the school year will conclude earlier in the month of May. Summertime is a sacred period for so many students and teachers to be able to explore, relax, and delve into opportunities outside of the classroom. By making this simple switch, we don’t lose any days of summer, but this slight shift to an earlier time frame will make the school year more enjoyable during one of its most stress-inducing time periods.
This is a small, simple, but necessary change. There is no widely known reason holding Parker back from making this slight alteration to assist in the well-being of Upper Schoolers during the first finals period. Every student only gets four winter breaks while being an Upper Schooler, each of which are currently consisting of hours of agonizing study sessions and an abundance of preventable stress. By starting the school year before Labor Day it can be ensured that every person in the Parker community can wholeheartedly enjoy a much-needed break before the start of the second semester.
