Written By: Alexandra Steyn

Summer: Lounging by the pool. Grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. Watching fireworks. No school—wait, scratch that. At Rye Country Day, summer often includes something else: summer work.

Summer work is an unavoidable part of the summer. A requirement for most classes, it is meant to be completed in the last month before school starts. It takes on a variety of forms. For English classes, students were assigned a book to read.. For math classes, they received a packet to complete. AP United States History students were assigned several short essays to read and to write the beginnings of two essays. AP Chemistry and Biology students were assigned a review packet, whereas all physics students read a book and answered questions about its content. For Modern Languages, all varieties of creative activities and readings were assigned. Summer work was as varied as students’ opinions on it.

So what do students truly think about summer work? And how do teachers defend it?

Sixty-one students from all four grades, representing around 15% of the student body, responded to a survey about summer work. Their responses give insight into the student body’s views on summer work and provide constructive feedback to improve it without removing it entirely.

43% of those surveyed said that the Humanities Department assigned the most amount of summer work, while 21% said that the Modern Languages Department did, with the rest split between other departments. When asked specifically which classes assigned the most, thirty-one students mentioned AP US History, while others mentioned various AP and honors-level classes across all departments. Conversely, 41% said that the Math Department assigned the least amount of summer work. The Math Department was also the department where students found the summer work most helpful; 75% said that their Math summer work was useful—far more than for any other department.

However, a high amount of summer work does not mean that summer work was unhelpful. Several students mentioned that their AP US History summer work helped prepare them; given that 41% thought that summer work was most useful as a reinforcement of critical skills (e.g. analyzing and writing)—the very skills this assignment targeted—that reaction is not surprising. By far, the majority of students—75%—found that their summer work was most helpful as a review of relevant material. This review is most helpful in STEM classes, which focus on content and knowledge, rather than more skills-based classes such as English and Humanities courses.

Zooming in on the AP US History summer assignment helps clarify the purpose of summer work at RCDS. This year, students read several short essays and responded to two essay questions with an introduction and an outline or a body paragraph. Ms. Everett, the Humanities Department Chair and an AP US History teacher, noted that the goal of the assignment was to “assess students’ reading, notetaking, and writing abilities.” By looking at students’ writing and analysis before the start of the school year—the assignment was due August 25th—teachers could have a sense of students’ strengths and weaknesses. Once school began, teachers could then jump straight into building skills in those weak areas.

Ms. Everett also mentioned that given the sheer amount of content the course must cover, it was more efficient to begin working through the content over the summer. Additionally, the AP US History teachers purposefully chose multiple articles from different sources to introduce various historians’ opinions and ideas. In doing so, they emphasized the fact that American history is not a single narrative but rather a composite of overlapping peoples, events, ideas, and retellings.

Ms. Everett is open to feedback on summer work, and students have plenty to give. One student, kept anonymous by the survey, wrote, “Some classes give homework [that has] nothing to do with the class directly, so it feels more like exploration when we could’ve spent that time doing individual exploration during our summer.” Other students echoed this sentiment; one added, “Reading a random book for English felt not very helpful,” and another said, “If you don’t know it you’re not going to suddenly remember it, and for Latin and physics it was to just read a history book, which I have no clue how that can be helpful.” Their message is clear: When summer work is directly tied to the course and relates to the course’s subject matter, it is helpful. Otherwise, students struggle to see the point.. Several students also noted the difficulty of finding the assignments. To make summer work more accessible, one student suggested that teachers send an email over the summer with instructions

Interestingly, although students agreed that some classes assigned a large amount of summer work, not all thought it was unmanageable.. In response to the question, “Do you think teachers assign too much summer work?” thirty responded “No” and thirty-one responded “Yes”—a split down the middle.

Summer work at RCDS is not going away any time soon. It is at times helpful and necessary, and at times seemingly pointless. Students and teachers both have diverse opinions on the matter. Through conversations such as these, summer work can be improved to benefit students and teachers alike.