The Forgotten Reason for Summer Vacation....
Summer vacation is coming to a close. So sad. To some. Some parents are planning end-of-summer parties that will start promptly at 9am on the first day of school! Of course, there are some parents who will just go to work like they have done all summer long. No matter how the end of summer is recognized by your family, there are a few who really even question summer vacation in the first place.
Many like to claim summer vacation isn't needed any more because we aren't an "agrarian" society anymore. Supposedly, summer vacations existed because kids were needed to work on the family farms. Really? Kids were needed to work on farms, in the summer, as plants were .... what... growing? What did they do, watch plants grow? Spring break occurred for spring planting, fall break existed for fall harvest, but summer vacation was for ... what?
Guess what? It had NOTHING to do with our farming families so stop blaming them! Summer vacations started because city children were attending schools in hot, brick buildings with no air flow. Doctors were stating children needed to get out of the smog-filled cities and get to the country for a break from the pollutants. So, city kids were sent out to their country cousins to enjoy fresh air. Well, guess where the country kids were... IN SCHOOL because they had spring and fall breaks! You can imagine how well this idea was received! Like a ton of bricks! Country cousins were in school while city cousins were swimming in the creeks! You can predict what happened next....the invention of summer vacation began.
So here we are in 2017 and the debate has evolved about the NEED for summer vacation. Many adults believe kids should be in school year round, literally, like adults going to work 52 weeks per year. Well, adults do get vacations. So, let's presume every adult gets two weeks of vacation. That means, I would hope, the families would take their kids on some sort of vacation or stay-cation to spend time with them for those 2 weeks.
Ok. So your child misses two weeks of school out of 52, not bad. And, every one of the 25 students misses 2 weeks of school, too. But, they wouldn't be missing the same two weeks, would they? So there would be students missing various two weeks of content throughout the year. Hmmmm....ok.
Oh, guess what? The teacher needs two weeks off, too, right? So your child misses two weeks of school and then has a sub for another two weeks so the teacher can have a vacation. So, now we are up to four weeks of school your child is not being educated by a teacher. Well, that still isn't a SUMMER's worth vacation!
Oh, wait a minute, teachers need to be trained on the new curriculum, or in the new technology that has been acquired. So, your child will not be educated by the teacher for another week or two. Now we are up to 6 weeks of school your child is not being educated by a teacher.
Wait a minute? When are the school floors going to be stripped and re-waxed? That is a week for sure! When will the walls be painted or touched up? That is another week. When will the maintenance of the building take place if students are in the building 52 weeks per year? That is AT LEAST another week. So, what are we up to now? 9 weeks?
But, summer is 12 weeks, is the claim. It is? Check the calendar. Most schools are off around 10 weeks in the summer. So, why not just allow everyone to be off on the SAME 10 weeks so teachers can be trained, schools can be cleaned and maintained, and families can enjoy a break during summer?
I am happy to say that most parents I know value summer vacations and see them as great breaks from school. They are a time for kids to try new things, different things from school. Families get to visit, kids get to play with friends they don't get to see normally throughout the school year. It was sweet to see moms posting on my Facebook feed about how sad they were that summer was coming to an end, that they wanted to spend more time with their children, that summer went too fast. Those parents probably won't be partying at 9am on the first day of school.... but maybe at least, they will all go out for a cup of coffee to reflect upon their summer days...
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/debunking-myth-summer-vacation/
Many like to claim summer vacation isn't needed any more because we aren't an "agrarian" society anymore. Supposedly, summer vacations existed because kids were needed to work on the family farms. Really? Kids were needed to work on farms, in the summer, as plants were .... what... growing? What did they do, watch plants grow? Spring break occurred for spring planting, fall break existed for fall harvest, but summer vacation was for ... what?
Guess what? It had NOTHING to do with our farming families so stop blaming them! Summer vacations started because city children were attending schools in hot, brick buildings with no air flow. Doctors were stating children needed to get out of the smog-filled cities and get to the country for a break from the pollutants. So, city kids were sent out to their country cousins to enjoy fresh air. Well, guess where the country kids were... IN SCHOOL because they had spring and fall breaks! You can imagine how well this idea was received! Like a ton of bricks! Country cousins were in school while city cousins were swimming in the creeks! You can predict what happened next....the invention of summer vacation began.
So here we are in 2017 and the debate has evolved about the NEED for summer vacation. Many adults believe kids should be in school year round, literally, like adults going to work 52 weeks per year. Well, adults do get vacations. So, let's presume every adult gets two weeks of vacation. That means, I would hope, the families would take their kids on some sort of vacation or stay-cation to spend time with them for those 2 weeks.
Ok. So your child misses two weeks of school out of 52, not bad. And, every one of the 25 students misses 2 weeks of school, too. But, they wouldn't be missing the same two weeks, would they? So there would be students missing various two weeks of content throughout the year. Hmmmm....ok.
Oh, guess what? The teacher needs two weeks off, too, right? So your child misses two weeks of school and then has a sub for another two weeks so the teacher can have a vacation. So, now we are up to four weeks of school your child is not being educated by a teacher. Well, that still isn't a SUMMER's worth vacation!
Oh, wait a minute, teachers need to be trained on the new curriculum, or in the new technology that has been acquired. So, your child will not be educated by the teacher for another week or two. Now we are up to 6 weeks of school your child is not being educated by a teacher.
Wait a minute? When are the school floors going to be stripped and re-waxed? That is a week for sure! When will the walls be painted or touched up? That is another week. When will the maintenance of the building take place if students are in the building 52 weeks per year? That is AT LEAST another week. So, what are we up to now? 9 weeks?
But, summer is 12 weeks, is the claim. It is? Check the calendar. Most schools are off around 10 weeks in the summer. So, why not just allow everyone to be off on the SAME 10 weeks so teachers can be trained, schools can be cleaned and maintained, and families can enjoy a break during summer?
I am happy to say that most parents I know value summer vacations and see them as great breaks from school. They are a time for kids to try new things, different things from school. Families get to visit, kids get to play with friends they don't get to see normally throughout the school year. It was sweet to see moms posting on my Facebook feed about how sad they were that summer was coming to an end, that they wanted to spend more time with their children, that summer went too fast. Those parents probably won't be partying at 9am on the first day of school.... but maybe at least, they will all go out for a cup of coffee to reflect upon their summer days...
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/debunking-myth-summer-vacation/
Comments
Post a Comment