Another Brick in the Wall

It’s hot, sticky, perspiring, and fantastic!  Even though my colleagues and I are sweltering away in our classrooms (our high temperatures over the weekend clocked in around 65 degrees, while three days later we skipped past our first 80 degree day and hit 92 degrees), I can’t help but enjoy this heat.  I had a romanticized conversation with my fiancée last night about waking up on my own terms, going for a long bike ride, reading a good book, napping, and then practicing my chip shot in the back yard with an ice cold… lemonade and the smell of burning charcoal.  Pair this with the occasional vacation, teaching symposium, or bachelor weekend in Las Vegas and you’ve got the makings of a great summer vacation.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the need (or lack of need) for summer vacation.  Many of the articles that I’ve read touch on the same overall principals:

1.  Summer vacations were created (in large part) because farming families need their children at home to work during the summer.  This has become much less of a necessity as the majority of Americans are moving into suburban and urban areas.

And…

2.  A student typically loses 2 months worth of learning by the end of their summer vacations.  Currently, we live in a world where American students rank very low amongst (published) global test scores, yet have more confidence in their work than the students who rank higher on these tests.

While the news media has plenty of coverage against summer vacation, there is very little talk of the need for summer vacation.  Anyone who works around students (especially in the heat of mid-May) will tell you that students need breaks throughout the year as a chance to refresh, recharge, and refocus.  Now, I am a big proponent of Year-Round School, however, breaks need to be implemented into the school year.  I really like the English model of this: school administrators build the school year around Christmas and Easter; they have the students come to school for a period of 6-9 weeks and then give the students a 1-2 week vacation (with the exception of summer which receives a longer break.)  The catch is that during the 6-9 week term, students have class every weekday without any breaks what-so-ever.  No break for Presidents Day, MLK Jr. Day, Veteran’s Day, etc.  Students are expected to be in class, prepared to learn for this time period.

I love this system; this gives us (the educators) the ability to really push our students while giving them a light at the end of the tunnel.  Furthermore, with a shorter vacation, students (in theory) will retain more of the information that has been taught to them.  There are some understandable flaws to school in August (ie: Air Conditioning…) but what I worry about more is the outcry Administrations would get from parents.

That’s right, the media will tell you that teachers are lazy and they only work for 3 reasons.  1 – June.  2 – July.  3 – August.  But, trust me, if we were to implement this, school’s would receive all sorts of calls saying, “I’m sorry but we are planning a family vacation around this time, so Johnny is gunna miss a week of school, even though he just had a vacation two weeks ago…”  Maybe our (biggest) problem isn’t summer vacation, maybe it’s the inconvenience school creates for families who forget that a school isn’t a daycare center, it’s an educational institution.