The topic of summer school is controversial among most of the student body at Brookfield East. The question stands – Why should students willingly sacrifice their summer vacation by signing up for another bombardment of school work?

Summer School is often misconstrued as a failsafe for students to make up for failing grades. However, summer school is also an opportunity to take required courses in a condensed format. Some examples of for-credit summer school courses are Personal Finance, Health, Gym, Principles of American Democracy, and Economics. Rohith Kumar, Junior Class President, attests to the value of taking summer courses, disclosing that he fulfilled all of his required gym credits over the summer, so he would have more time to play on the Varsity basketball team. “Taking required classes over the summer really frees up my schedule during the school year,” Kumar explains. Brookfield East counselor, Mr. Lippold adds “Some of those classes do help with graduation requirements such as the health class and personal finance class… Those are pretty popular”.

So, if taking classes over the summer is so beneficial, why do most students not take advantage of the opportunities provided to them?
Spartan Banner asked a sample of 20 students this question. It was found that over 65% of those surveyed were working over the summer. Due to this pre-existing commitment, they were unable to attend summer classes. Chase Desmore (11) expressed that “ I really wanted to finish my gym credits during the summer, but because of my work schedule, I couldn’t do both at once”. In addition to work, summer break is a popular time for travel. The Vacationer’s recent 2023 Summer Travel Survey revealed that “85% of Americans are planning to travel this summer”. Lippold explains that summer school emphasizes balance by limiting the amount of time spent in the classroom by limiting students to taking only “two classes per summer”, However, whether you decide to take a course over the summer heavily depends on your other commitments, considering that many students might want to focus of work, spending time with family and fiends, volunteering, or other non-school activities.

Many students are not well informed about the benefits and drawbacks of taking summer classes. Perhaps, more information could be presented during excellence hubs around the time students make course selections during January and February.