by Chase Sondike ‘26

As the school year winds down and students look forward to summer relaxation, one thing might still remain on their minds over their break: summer homework. While some education experts and teachers see it as a way for students to stay sharp, likely many students view it as an unfair interruption to their summer break.

Summer homework has been debated among teachers, students, and parents for years. Some believe that it is necessary as it prevents students from forgetting important skills, while others argue that it simply increases stress without offering much benefit. Educators have mixed opinions on the matter. Some support it, especially for advanced students, while others believe a break should be just that—a break.

Patty Jasnow, who teaches AP Literature and Honors English 10, wishes students would read more on their own and that reading a book over the summer should be viewed by students as a pleasurable activity. Students who register for AP Lit choose a book to read during the summer from a list of contemporary novels provided by the AP Lit teachers. “Students who read the novel in the summer are actually easing up their Lit workload in the first weeks of the semester,” said Jasnow. “They are compounding the amount of work at the start of their senior year by avoiding summer reading.”

Knowledge retention is the main argument for summer homework being assigned to students. With the summer break being two months long, it might be difficult for students to retain information from the past school year. Hence, summer homework is a way to keep students involved consistently with the academic material they have covered throughout the school year. The prevention of learning loss is also a huge factor when talking about summer assignments, as many argue that the work will stop the squandering of knowledge that students often experience. The assigning of work over the summer will teach students to manage their time effectively and encourage discipline and responsibility as well. Spreading work out to effectively complete it and finding time to do assignments are values that cannot be overstated when talking about students who succeed academically.

However, not everyone agrees that summer homework is beneficial. Some argue that much of the summer work given is low quality and often isn’t useful for actual learning. In fact, it can lead to burnout, especially when students are expected to juggle jobs, vacations, or much-needed rest.

In MCPS, there isn’t a strict requirement for summer homework. Schools may assign reading lists or optional work, but the trend at Sherwood in recent years has veered away from teachers assigning summer homework and assignments other than in the AP English classes. For better or worse, most students are to decide for themselves whether to shut down academic learning over the summer.