"The only ones who don't lose are the top 10-15% of the student body. Those tend to be gifted, college bound, they are natural learners who will learn wherever they are" (Smyth 7). This is a statement from an article written by Julie Carr Smyth about how much knowledge is lost over the summer due to the amount of time away from education during the break. Smyth's article also states that "The National Summer Learning Association cites decades of research showing that student test scores are higher in the same subjects at the beginning of the summer than at the end" (Smyth 6). If the National Summer Learning Association has already done research showing that knowledge is lost during summer vacation, why do we still have such a long break between school years? All students would agree that each school year continues like the one before: You start the school year reviewing everything you've previously learned, then spend the rest of the year learning new lessons only to have them slip away again out of your mind when you return to school the following year after summer break. It seems like the only activities students remember from summer vacation are the parties, vacations, and Netflix series they spent the time on. This is not how it should be. Narrowing the gap between summer school months will in turn strengthen students' education. This will not allow them to miss out on as much prior education as a long summer break. A longer school year will in turn reduce educational loss, increase student productivity year-round, and provide simple necessities of daily living such as food to some unfortunate students.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan notes that U.S. students often spend 25 or 30 percent less time in school......middle of paper......ts, who wouldn't want to extend the school year students of course, but are they no longer worried about the parties they're going to? lose rather than the education they will receive? But teachers don't care about the parties their students will miss or the Netflix series they won't be able to watch; it's giving each of its students the highest education it can offer, and that's really the main reason why a longer school year is better. It gives teachers more time to find the best ways to teach their students anything and everything they might need to know for their future lives, and if that's what will come out of a longer school year, then you would better believe that it is the best thing to do for students not only in the United States, but all over the globe.