A child wakes up at 6 A.M. a normal December school day. He slinks out of bed to take a shower. Afterwards, he eats breakfast, and throws on a jacket. The child watches television to pass the time, and sees that his school is closed due to snow. He trudges off, back to bed, annoyed, and rests for three more hours, instead of studying for that big test in algebra. Snow days are just a horrifying waste of time! Schools need to abolish snow days!
To begin, children just don’t use their snow day time wisely. Maybe children would cheer at the news that school is cancelled. Possibly they had a math test that day, or possibly didn’t read the required pages for English. But if the child has that problem, odds are, they’re not going to fix it on a snow day. Instead, they throw themselves on the sofa with a bag of potato chips, and stare at the television for hours, just rotting. If children were at school on a snowy day, they wouldn’t even have the time to watch television with homework and studying.
Snow days also violently attack grades. Children are forgetful. They don’t remember long-term information very easily. So, say there would be a test one day. The child studies as hard as they can the night before, but the next day, school is cancelled. Only a few students will continue studying on a snow day. Most would just rest. Forgetting everything they read. Also, if the snow day occurs on a Friday, the child then has three days to either study, or forget. Studies by Dave Marcotte (a professor at the University of Maryland), and Benjamin Hansen (a research associate at IMPAQ International) show that for each day a school was cancelled due to snow, 0.5% more students failed math assessments. It’s just ridiculus.
Another problem to snow days, is the serious risk of injury. The one thing all children dread when it snow, is shoveling the snow. It’s boring, hard, and not to mention a stupid chore. But do you realize that it is also very dangerous? Ice on the ground can cause slippage, just lifting snow can pull a muscle. The Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, conducted a study on it. They found that between 1990 to 2006, 11,500 snow shoveling related injuries and death were reported, in both children and adults. Maybe if the children were at school instead on on the pavement, there wouldn’t be so many of these in children. Because the child is at school, they cannot shovel the snow. Most likely a parent or an older sibling would shovel snow instead. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather die as an adult than as a child.
To add, children can easily get sick from snow days. Look, I get why elementary students have snow days. The children are small. They can’t handle it. My elementary teachers would force us to stay outside during recess, even if it was ten degrees below zero. But middle and high school students don’t have recess. They only have to go outside for about three seconds to go to their next class. If they stayed at home they wouldn’t have any classes to go to. So, they hang out with friends outside. Teenagers usually just throw on a light jacket and maybe a hat and gloves. Compared to first graders, who are being choked with three scarves, and chrushed with seven parkas, teens are practically naked outside. They get sick. Some may argue that it’s the teens fault, and it partially is. But wouldn’t it be easier to just abolish snow days than to convince every single teen in America to wear a coat? On a school day, teens have to walk about a block to a bus stop, or three yards to their car. Sometimes, no time outside! On a snow day, they pretty much do the same and elementary student. Play outside, build a snowman, but the difference if the risk of geting sick! Which would be better to fend off the cold? Thirty pounds of winter gear? Or a sweater?
Kids just need to learn how to be tough! I hear plenty of people at school saying, “It should be a snow day” or, “It’s too cold!”, when it’s not even below freezing. We need to teach these children to be tough! They can’t spend the rest of their lives complainning. On a snow day, some children and teens play outside. But others curl up in about twenty-eight blankets, next to a blazing fireplace, with the thermostat turned all the way up. They’ve got a personal summer there! Then they complainn that it’s too cold, even then! If they weren’t at home, they wouldn’t be able to have those blankets, or that fire, or that heater. We don’t need children being more lazy and wimpy. Not in the age of Apple and cell phones! Where children rely on technology for everything!

To add to my point, some children are actually hurt by a snow day! Schools think that they are protecting them by keeping them home, but really, for some kids, it’s the oppisite. Most of my friends like school. Most kids like school. For some, it’s the only time they can see their friends, and talk to them. If they can’t see their friends, them they’re sad, and then they hate snow. Why protect kids while making then angry?
Sure, maybe the roads are slick, maybe there’s a risk of being snowed in, maybe it’s -10 below zero. But this is the 21st century! We have the kind of technology to fix that! We have snow plows to clear the roads! We have strong roofs and others to control where the snow ends up! We have heaters and coats and fire to keep us warm! It’s not like we don’t have the same problem at home. And what do children really gain from snow days? Just a day off? A little extra time with the TV? We get that twice a week all year round! It’s called Saturday and Sunday! The weekends! So the middle schools and high schools of the world, get rid of snow days! They don’t do any good to children or anyone really!