What if you had to learn an entire year's worth of knowledge in only a couple of weeks? That’s the reality of many students taking summer school programs at Mid-Pacific, but the real question is does the timeline make it possible for students to succeed in that subject?

In the majority of schools, summer school is a way for struggling students to catch up with peers or to make up credits for classes they failed. Because of this association, for most students, summer school is considered as a punishment for bad grades, and not much fun.

However, at Mid-Pacific, instead of summer school being a punishment for students with bad grades, it’s a way for students to earn their credits faster, and to give them greater flexibility in their class choices during the sc
hool year.

“Unlike most other schools, Mid-Pacific allows their students to earn credits needed during the summer,” freshman Madison Kawamura said.

At Mid-Pacific, summer school programs are a good way for students to get credit for a class that they aren’t able to take for scheduling reasons. Many students that enroll in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, for example, are interested in getting credits over summer so they don’t have to worry about it during the school year.

“Some students need summer programs to make up a class or if they want to take IB. [They] want to get a lot of things out of the way so they can concentrate on IB Junior and senior year,” Assistant Principal Rebecca Hodge said.

Students expressed varying opinions about this topic. Some believe that summer school programs provide an unfair advantage to students who elect to take them because you can get full credit for a major class despite only taking it for a couple of weeks.

Others take the opposite perspective, believing that students who take summer school classes are at a disadvantage because it takes around 9 months to learn new topics. In summer school, students are under much more pressure because they have to learn those topics sometimes in a couple of days.

Because of the compressed time scale, missing one day of summer class can make it hard to catch back up with others.

“If you miss a day, it’s like missing weeks in the class,” Hodge said.

Despite the challenges and pressures of summer school, many students love the option of being able to take major classes over the summer because they can get full credit for only taking that class for a couple of weeks. Plus you get to fill that major class with either a fun class like art or free. You finish that class way before other students.

“Many students like having the opportunity to take major courses over the summer so when school starts they don’t have to worry,” Kawamura said.

While summer programs offer many advantages, it’s important to consider the risks involved. You might excel in that class, but it’s also a gamble because if you fail you might have to take that class again over the school year.

“I do think there needs to be a certain mindset of students when they take summer classes that the work is intensive,” Hodge said.