Winter break is good for students and schools

REFUTATIONS:1) In modern society, there is a separation of church and state; if someone wishes to take an absence from school due to religious observance, that is his or her decision... But that DOES NOT MEAN that his or her public school, a GOVERNMENT FACILITY OF EDUCATION, should be involving religion in school policy decisions. Your example simply shows a school that has a student population that is predominantly Muslim and how it chose to allow Islamic holidays to affect its school's policies, as a result. It still disregards the religions of the minorities! Muslim students from most schools (where Muslim students are a minority, unlike in your case study example) have been able to celebrate and enjoy their holidays without school breaks and so should the rest of the religious world in the United States!2) The US is ranked 16th OUT OF THE COUNTRIES LISTED. No evidence was provided that the countries included in the list are the countries with the longest school years relative to those in countries in the rest of the world. The opponent, however, made the illogical assumption that it is 16th in the world. Much of his argument is based on this huge misinterpretation of data.The opponent stated in a prior argument: "Your [sic] comparing the US to 34 countries and not the entire world and the statistic you cited only includes the most educated in the world." Nothing in my source (http://www.usatoday.com...) says anything about these 34 countries being "the most educated in the world." The opponent misconstrues information and uses it to support his arguments. The foundation for most of his arguments is misinterpreted data. I never stated that America is toward the bottom of the list of education systems of 200 countries. I was only comparing America to other countries who were ranked in the study. Since the US is a major powerhouse in the world, I believe that it is silly to compare it to all other countries (such as Tanzania and Madagascar) when it comes to education. Yes, I still stand by the claim that extended school years would lead to more material being taught, thereby boosting our ranking and moving us forward. I was just saying that you attributed the correlation you presented in your trends strictly to school year length, when many other factors may have affected the statistics. There is NO CAUSATION; according to these trends, no clear-cut conclusion can be made about school year length's effects on educational quality. My logic is not flawed... The opponent seems to have difficulty differentiating between "causation" and "correlation." 3) The current instability of the US economy is completely irrelevant to the matter at hand. We are not necessary discussing getting rid of winter break tomorrow; no context was given in regards to time. If the opponent wished to discuss this issue with a specific time restraint, he should have noted this at the beginning of the argument. 4) "It's simple logic," states the opponent (ironically.) I reaffirm that students do not learn as much at home on break (even with homework assigned) as they during the school year, when they attend school and are also given homework assignments. Homework is not enough to teach students... Winter break takes away from classroom time for students, which is critical in most students' learning processes. And in regards to the opponent's main points: 1) Again: In modern society, there is a separation of church and state; if someone wishes to take an absence from school due to religious observance, that is his or her decision... But that DOES NOT MEAN that his or her public school, a GOVERNMENT FACILITY OF EDUCATION, should be involving religion in school policy decisions. And again: Your example simply shows a school that has a student population that is predominantly Muslim and how it chose to allow Islamic holidays to affect its school's policies, as a result. It still disregards the religions of the minorities! Muslim students from most schools (where Muslim students are a minority, unlike in your case study example) have been able to celebrate and enjoy their holidays without school breaks and so should the rest of the religious world in the United States!2) The opponent states that "students do work much longer than the rest of the world does." This is based on the idea that students in the US has longer school days than the rest of the world, which the opponent has yet to prove. Moreover, it equates "longer school days" to "more work," which is a fallacy. 3) The current instability of the US economy is completely irrelevant to the matter at hand. We are not necessary discussing getting rid of winter break tomorrow; no context was given in regards to time. If the opponent wished to discuss this issue with a specific time restraint, he should have noted this at the beginning of the argument. 4) Students CAN learn during winter break, but the opponent has failed to prove that students learn as much on vacation as they do attending school. Hence, I reaffirm that students would learn much more from attending school than not over winterbreak.The opponent's arguments, as a whole, are based on illogical conclusions and a misinterpreted data.To sum up my claims...1) Winter break is made to allow people of majority religions to celebrate their holidays, while ignoring those of minority religions. Moreover, public schools should disregard religion, since they are institutions of the government, and there is a well-established separation between Church and State.2) Winter break makes academic semesters shorter, taking away from students' academics. 3) By getting rid of Winter break, schools can extend academic semesters, so students are able to practice material more and learn more material in the subjects they are being taught. Logically, this would improve student scores in the core subjects (math, science, language); this would lead to a boost in the quality of the US education system and an improvement in international rankings. The opponent, the instigator, was unable to defend his claims and was unable to counter my claims. Therefore, it is a victory for CON. Much thanks to the opponent and all readers.