Do Students Get Too Much Time Off From School?

Christmas or Winter Break. Spring Break. Holidays off. “Teachers’ Inservice” days. And, last but not least, the mother of all vacations: Summer Vacation.

These are the breaks students look forward to as they navigate their education. But if the true purpose of school is to prepare students for the real world—a world that doesn’t offer summer vacations unless you’re very wealthy or return to school as a teacher—why do we continue to give students so much time off? If education is as important as we all agree it is, why do students get so many days away from it?

If the rest of the working world doesn’t get to enjoy this kind of time-friendly schedule, maybe it’s time to ask why students—who are training for the working world—and teachers still do.

Summer Vacation: What Gives?

Anyone familiar with the U.S. school system knows about the giant hole in the calendar: no school in the summer. For the three hottest months of the year, students and teachers aren’t expected to work, study, do homework—in fact, they aren’t required to do anything at all.

Why does that gaping hole exist?

In the 19th century, many children—especially in rural areas—were let out of school in spring and fall to help with planting and harvesting. In contrast, children in urban areas often attended school year-round on a more consistent schedule.

Eventually, the push for a unified school calendar took hold. The logical compromise was summer. It aligned well with warm weather and didn’t fully interrupt the planting or harvest seasons. That tradition stuck—and has continued for over 150 years.

Which raises the question: why does this system still exist? The truth is, summer vacation persists mostly out of tradition. It’s deeply rooted in our culture. And frankly, most people—teachers, students, and parents alike—are used to it. If your job came with three months off every year, would you volunteer to give that up?

Other Days Off

While summer accounts for the biggest chunk of student free time, it’s not the only break. In fact, most U.S. school years include only about 180 instructional days—less than half the calendar year. That means students enjoy substantial time off even during the academic year.

Subtract weekends, and what’s left are various weekday breaks: official holidays, yes, but also school-specific days off like teacher workdays, “in-service” days, and planning days. These aren’t typically days off for teachers, but they do leave students at home—because there’s no one available to teach them.

Which brings us to the question: what if students simply went to school more?

Would that really be such a bad thing?

Getting Students in School More

No one seriously disputes that education is crucial to a child’s development. Yet even strong advocates of national education systems support a model that has kids in school for less than half the year.

Granted, children aren’t adults, and breaks are important for their mental and emotional well-being. But many argue that more rigorous academic schedules could yield better results—and that the current number of school days in the U.S. may be one reason American students struggle to compete internationally.

Take South Korea, for instance. Their summer vacation lasts only about six weeks, from July to August—half the length of a typical U.S. break. Scotland’s school year follows a similar pattern.

It’s hard to argue that Scottish or Korean children are overworked or deprived. In fact, cutting back on extended breaks may help prevent the “summer slide,” where students forget material learned the previous year. Too much downtime can lead to stagnation, boredom, and underperformance.

Is More Discipline Needed?

American adults are among the hardest-working in the developed world, often with fewer vacation days than their European peers. But our students? Not so much. Their academic schedules are far more relaxed, leaving a disconnect between childhood learning and adult responsibility.

Perhaps there’s room to strike a better balance—challenging students more consistently throughout the year, while also advocating for adults to receive more vacation time to decompress from work stress.

After all, education’s job is to prepare children for adulthood—and in the U.S., that means preparing them for an American adulthood. There’s certainly room for more school hours, more academic engagement, and ultimately, more opportunities for growth.

If the education system is going to evolve, it has to question outdated norms—like those formed in the 1800s—and explore just how capable our kids really are.