Can American students afford to take a summer vacation? In a summer vacation, millions of kids spend valuable time sending messages, watching TV, playing video games and doing shopping in the mall. They will also be putting their academic futures at risk.

　　Summer vacation once made sense in the past when you didn’t need an education to get a good job. But now things have changed. For today’s students, academic skills are important to students’ future success, but such skills are affected in the summertime. Many nations don’t give kids an American-style summer vacation. They offer no more than seven consecutive(连续的) weeks of vacation. Most American school districts offer up to thirteen weeks. To compete in the global marketplace, Americans must be prepared to go up against international competitors.

　　Summer vacation also causes challenges for today’s families. In the 1960s, more than 60% of families had a stay-at-home Mom. Now two-thirds of American children live in households where every adult works. For these families, summer vacation can be more burden than break. Someone must watch the kids.

　　But the biggest problem may be how summer vacation hurts academic achievement. Researchers have found that disadvantaged students lose significant ground in the summertime.

　　A longer school year does not have to be an invitation to hard boring work. Rather, it should allow time-pressed teachers to conduct richer and more imaginative lessons. Schools would have more time to devote to athletics, languages, music and the arts. Summer vacation can be a grand thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.

【2016届高考英语冲刺卷：05（江苏卷）（原卷版）】相关文章：

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习课时作业(三十五)选修6Module 5《Cloning》（外研版）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：8（含解析）

★ 2013高考英语冲刺-专项篇 3阅读理解

★ 常熟市2014高考英阅读理解语一轮（暑假）训练题（11）及答案

★ 四川省2016届高考英语一轮复习课时作业（36） Module 6 War and Peacel 外研版选修6

★ 【优化方案】2017届高考英语二轮复习全国卷Ⅱ规范练：6（含解析）

★ 2017年高考英语二轮复习精品资料：专题15 完形填空（押题专练）（原卷版）

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习课时作业(二十六)必修5Module 2《A Job Worth Doing》（外研版）

★ 浙江省湖州市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮（暑假）精炼（16）含答案

★ 2017年高考英语二轮复习精品资料：专题14 阅读理解（押题专练）（原卷版）