This summer I learned two things. One, the TV drama Pretty Little Liars is extremely addicting, and two, summer work is a pain. One minute I’m thinking about what possible twist is to come in the mind-boggling show, and the next, my palms get sweaty at the thought of how much AP U.S. I still have to do. Here I am, drinking a cold glass of lemonade with my legs propped up on the couch, and I can’t shake off the fact that I have a 33-page German fiction book to read and questions to answer. The point is, I don’t understand why it’s advertised that we get two months off of school when in reality, school is year-round.

However, as much as I dislike summer homework, I can see the benefits. According to the National Summer Learning Association, research shows students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than at the beginning. In other words, we lose a significant amount of information during the summer that can supposedly be somewhat prevented by teachers assigning us mounds of unwanted summer work.

So we need some education during the summer; that doesn’t sound too bad, but the reality of it is, throughout our two-month vacation, some of us (or most) drown in summer work. I can vividly recall last summer dreading the thought of going into AP World because my printer almost broke down while attempting to print out the seemingly 500 pages of summer work. In saying this, I propose that we, as a school, reduce the amount of summer work. Let’s diet on this idea of overworking the student body during our supposedly leisure vay-cay. Education is necessary, but in moderation. Think of it in terms of food; we don’t want to overeat, do we?

On another note, I must blame myself for a certain amount of stress during the hot summer months. I find myself holding out my hands and weighing out my options: pool, or AP Lang? Definitely the pool. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m talking about procrastination. Yes, the train stops at Procrastination Station in the middle of the day whenever I have this mini-battle in my head. It happens to all of us (at least I hope it’s not just me), and it makes the process of summer work even more challenging. Now, instead of reading the 10 essays I am required to complete in AP Lang in June, I find myself starting them the week before school starts. For at least this part of my opinion on summer work, I’m indeed at fault, but what I’m trying to convey is that we would all be a little bit happier if the load was cut down.

Whether it be the multiple books for English I have to read, or the museum visits and papers I have to write, school work definitely controls my summer. So hopefully everyone had a relaxing summer, filled with pool visits and bountiful amounts of delicious food. Meanwhile I have to get back to figuring out who the notorious “A” is on Pretty Little Liars while typing my AP U.S. reflection on the museum I was required to visit.