Choosing Schoolwork over Sunny Days at the Beach?

For many students, summer is the best time of the year because of one thing – no school. But for many high school students, doing schoolwork during June and July has become a popular choice. As the new school year begins, the question for students is: was summer school worth the sacrifice of some summer fun?

For clarity, this article will only be addressing non-mandatory summer classes. For these, students choose to take the courses for their own reasons, not because their teachers or grades require them to. 

Over the years, summer class enrollment has increased across the state. In 2021, California hit a record number of enrollment across school districts, and in 2022 almost 30% of K-12 students enrolled in a summer learning program.

One of the main reasons high school students opt to enroll in a summer class is to free up space for their schedule in the future, according to David Platt, Ed.D., Assistant Principal of Curriculum at Los Alamitos High School in the Los Alamitos Unified School District. Dr. Platt explained that many students develop a plan of what they want for their high school experience and where they want to be at the end of their four years. Taking summer classes allows students to stick to their goals and shape their high school career. It gives them options for how to balance how they meet academic requirements with their desire to participate in electives and extra-curricular activities.

“If you have students who are doing a lot of performing arts classes during a year, freeing up a slot for a course becomes something very important for them,” he said. For example, many students take Physical Education (PE) over the summer to complete the requirement for the class, as some performing arts classes do not qualify for PE.

Dr. Platt added that some students choose to take summer courses for academic reasons, such as taking a class to increase their Grade Point Average (GPA). However, Dr. Platt said he does not recommend that students take advanced courses over the summer. He argues this is because the level of rigor of a high-level class would be squeezed into six weeks during the summer, rather than in the 36 weeks of an entire school year. 

Many summer classes, according to Dr. Platt, follow an asynchronous, online learning experience, including Griffin Connections, LAHS’s summer program which provides instruction with 5% in-person learning and 95% online learning. While this can be beneficial to students who have busy summer schedules, Dr. Platt explained that the off-campus experience causes students to miss key aspects of in-person learning during the school year.

“I think that there is great value in taking classes in-person from the instructor, instead of taking it online. I think that you miss that human interaction, and I think the opportunity for really good rigor [comes from] being in in-person [classes],” he said. 

Ultimately, though, it comes down to how students feel about summer classes, and whether they are worth taking or not. 

Ellie Sutherland, a junior at Los Alamitos High School, said she took U.S. History AB this summer because she wanted to complete the required class early. She explained that this would also allow her to free up more space in her class schedule.

“In my opinion, it is definitely worth taking a summer class because it provides the same information in six weeks as you would from a school-year course that takes much longer. Although summer school is a big commitment, it is a great opportunity to get a course done,” Ellie said.

Another Los Alamitos student (who asked to be anonymous) took Pre-Calculus this summer online through Silicon Valley High School, an online program that offers “self-paced, video-based and teacher-supported” courses for $125 each.

 The student said that, while they did not enjoy the learning experience as a whole, the workload was much more tolerable.

“Depending on what course you are taking, some [schools] might be as flexible as Silicon Valley with its schedule. [Other schools] might have you working on certain goals daily, so the workload really depends on who's taking it,” the student said. With a class like Pre-Calculus, the student said it would not be worth it to take over the summer unless a person was certain about it.

Choosing to take a summer class becomes a personal decision for each student, no matter the motive. High schoolers have begun to realize the worth of giving up some time during the summer and continue to take the opportunity to accomplish their academic goals.

This article was written by Spotlight Schools Editorial Intern Katie Arnoult, a student at Los Alamitos High School. Help support the Spotlight Schools internship program that inspires and trains young journalists by donating to Spotlight Schools here.