Top Five Benefits of Summer School

Why in the world would anybody want to spend their summer attending summer school classes?
Actually, there are many reasons why attending summer school is not a bad thing, and is actually a very smart move.
Here are my top five reasons:
1. Get a head start on the classes you will be taking next semester. Sometimes, classes move way too fast for students to really keep up with the material. Consider a high school math class: When I took calculus, I was extremely confused every single day, mostly because I had not understood what we did the day before. However, if I had pre-calculus during summer school, I would have had a better understanding of the subject when I took calculus during the school year. Summer school is a great way to prepare yourself for the difficult classes you have to take during the school year.
2. Lighten your course load. Everyone has to take those annoying, mandatory classes in order to graduate. However, wouldn’t it be better to spend one month during summer studying Classical Musical Theory than an entire semester? Summer classes allow you to complete a class that does not sound exactly thrilling in a shorter amount of time, and will lighten your course load for the next semester. My friend took American government the semester before his senior year of high school and had an extra elective hour during his senior year to do with as he pleased. That sure sounds a lot better than suffering through a semester of American government or any other class that does not appeal to you.
3. Improve your GPA. There are many fun, interesting classes offered during summer school that you can take to raise your GPA. For example, my school offers a course on Harry Potter each summer, and if you have read the books like I have, that basically means an easy A. Or, if there’s a class that you have already taken but did not do so well on, you could retake it during summer school and try to improve your GPA that way.
4. Enjoy a more personalized learning environment. Since most students roll their eyes at the idea of summer school, these classes tend to have fewer people enrolled. This allows for students to develop a more personal relationship with the professor, and also allows for more one-on-one interaction between the professor and the students.
5. Avoid summer learning loss. Everyone knows that you tend to lose some of the knowledge you gained between August and May during your summer break. This unfortunate phenomenon is called Summer Learning Loss. However, if you keep your brain active all summer long by taking a summer class, you are less likely to fall suffer from summer brain drain.
So, yeah, I admit it: sitting by a pool all day does sound more fun than sitting in a classroom. However, there are some awesome benefits to taking summer classes. So, if it isn’t too late, I suggest looking into summer classes as an incredibly useful way to fill your days.