Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy study at the American Enterprise Institute, which is a nonprofit organization that does research on many public topics. He says that a long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.
Can American students afford to take a summer vacation? In a summer vacation, millions of children 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 summer time. Many other countries don’t give children 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 stayathome Mum. Now, two thirds of American children live in households where every adult works. For these families, summer vacation can be more a burden than a 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 ground in the summer time.
Any good suggestion? Yes. 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. Students would have more time to devote to sports, music and the arts.
To conclude, a long summer vacation can be a great thing. But in the 21st century, it may also be outdated.    （313 words）
Title：About      

Theme	A long summer vacation doesn’t make sense in today’s world.
Basic Information	Vacation length	●In other countries: no more than 7 weeks ●In the USA: mostly        weeks
Students’ activities	●Sending messages and watching TV ●Playing video games ●Doing
Causing        for families	Making parents watch kids at home
Hurting	Making disadvantaged students    ground
	Students should study richer and more imaginative     , and have more time for sports, music and the arts in a longer school year.
	Summer vacation can be great but may be        as well.

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