<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/11/AR2006071100871.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/11/AR2006071100871.html</a></p>
<p>What do you all think?</p>
<p>i kind of agree. summer “vacation” in the literal sense is a bad idea. but it’s good to give students the opportunity to develop themselves in areas other than “brainpower.” instead of abolishing summer vacation and keeping kids in school in an attempt to make them as smart as their foreign peers, we should make the most of our summer vacation tradition: encourage kids to use the time to take classes they are interested in, to focus on extracurricular activities, to develop personal qualities through service, to work a job…these are all valuable summer experiences. surely, kids who go on the family vacation/kids who just watch movies all summer could be spending their time more wisely. but abolishing summer vacation aint the answer.</p>
<p>I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, keeping my son motivated (he’s 7) and moving forward takes a lot of work on my part, but on the other hand I really enjoy not having to haul his butt to school every morning on the way to work. My middle daughter who is going into high school in September (how’d that happen?) is considering doing her summer reading and basically nothing else, where older sister who is a rising senior, is doing a biochemistry internship at our local college, working at least 20 hours a week AND volunteering some substantial hours. It’s been a very productive summer for her and she would have lost out if she didn’t have it.</p>
<p>For our family, this question was more of an issue when the kids were younger. It seemed as if they spent the last month of school bouncing from field trip to music program to track & field day, then the first month of the following year re-learning the stuff they had forgotten over the summer. Two wasted months, as far I was concerned. (And don’t even get me started on the four weeks between Thanksgiving & Christmas!)</p>
<p>Once they hit high school, however, everything fell into place. Driver’s ed one year, jobs, captain’s practices, club sports, family vacation, summer reading, down time – summer seems to fly by. If you take into account that many fall sports pick up at the beginning of August, you are talking about a seven-week summer break anyway.</p>
<p>I could see reducing summer vacation some and perhaps having longer vacations in December and March, perhaps a week off at Thanksgiving, etc., in other words, spread it out a bit. However, summer is still a great time for camping out, going on family trips, going to Scout camp or band camp or just lying under a tree and reading (my favorite as a child). </p>
<p>Many schools are not air conditioned and are not very comfortable in the heat of summer, so that is also a consideration in districts that struggle just to find enough money to keep from laying off teachers.</p>
<p>How about a compromise where there are summer programs offered, along with free lunches, for those who need them, but they are not mandatory, so that those kids who prefer to explore life without the confining limits of school are still free to do so?</p>
<p>(And don’t even get me started on the four weeks between Thanksgiving & Christmas!)</p>
<p>Really? I never knew that. We get the Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving and that’s it.</p>
<p>Let me clarify. They were technically in school in December, but the efficiency level was way down. </p>
<p>My kids went to Catholic grade school, so they were celebrating all month long – lighting Advent candles, celebrating St. Nick Day, celebrating St. Lucia Day, gearing up for the Christmas musical extravaganza, practicing for the Christmas Eve nativity program, making Christmas decorations, making Christmas gifts, attending the Nutcracker (fourth grade), attending the local children’s theatre Christmas production (everyone else). Who has time for math amidst such festivities?</p>
<p>“Additional schooling should not be an invitation to drudgery or an attack on childhood. It would allow schools to include more recess and athletics throughout the year, give teachers more time to conduct rich and imaginative lessons, and provide more time for music and the arts¿all without compromising academic instruction.”</p>
<p>I agree. I’m also glad that my kids are 18, 22, so any vacation changes would not affect them.</p>
<p>My kids were lucky enough to grow up in families in which their parents were academics with summer off and fellowship and nice temporary job opportunities that allowed us to do things like spend 6 weeks driving coast to coast one summer; spending several summers in Paris; and spending a couple of summers in D.C. We also had the funds to send my kids to some camps that allowed them to pursue their intellectual and EC interests. </p>
<p>Most families aren’t that fortunate. It costs a lot of money to send kids to a quality summer camp while the parents work for most of the summer. For kids who are in dysfunctional or neglectful families or are from uneducated homes, the extended vacations only serve to allow those kids to fall further behind academically and to run into social and other problems due to the lack of supervision.</p>
<p>Consequently, I think it would be beneficial for most families if the school year were extended.</p>
<p>So true NSM, for many kids, it is a big thing just to know that the free breakfast and lunch program takes place over the summer as for some kids these are still the only meals that they are eating on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Our state recently put into effect a law that lengthens the summer. Previous to last year, school districts set their on start/end dates usually anywhere from the first week of Aug. to the third week of Aug. With the new law in effect, no school can start before Aug.25th. So this year we will be starting school on Friday, Aug.25th! This all came about because the tourism indistry in our state was up in arms that Aug. was basically a lost month of revenue due to school starting so early in the month.</p>
<p>We never start before labor Day. I am a big fan of summer vacation. I understand that real world exigencies make it hard for some people, but in a vaccuum, I think time to wonder and wander and lose all structure is a wonderful thing. I am glad that my kids graduated before anyone noticed that they actually spent huge swaths of their childhoods doing absolutely nothing. </p>
<p>It was the best thing for them.</p>
<p>I agree with you garland. I hate to see young children have their summers all planned out, scheduled and monitored. Most of my best childhood memories are from those carefree summer months–and I hope it has been the same for my kids.</p>
<p>PackMom, you must be from NC!</p>
<p>You guessed it mkm56. I take it you are in the old North State too?
My S plays football and will actually have our first Varsity football game of the season the week BEFORE school starts! How goofy!</p>
<p>Yes, Packmom I’m here in NC. I’ve seen the state, or at least our district, go from year round schooling (parents really up in arms), to the early Aug. start, to now the late Aug. start. Mine are all college age now, so all this back and forth doesn’t affect us so much. Our local schools also start varsity football and soccer before school is in session!</p>
<p>As a future teacher, I personally would want more school days. Why? More days equals more pay!</p>
<p>Actually, I think the schools should work a little differently. Perhaps on trimesters with one trimester on break. Have a fall and spring trimester, and make the winter one open for electives. The scheduling would be block here. The fourth “trimester” would be some time off in July or August. This way you get a nice break between hard academic semesters and have one where you just explore your own path and can focus on something like, say, art without having to worry about something like chemistry or algebra.</p>
<p>“Our state recently put into effect a law that lengthens the summer. Previous to last year, school districts set their on start/end dates usually anywhere from the first week of Aug. to the third week of Aug. With the new law in effect, no school can start before Aug.25th. So this year we will be starting school on Friday, Aug.25th! This all came about because the tourism indistry in our state was up in arms that Aug. was basically a lost month of revenue due to school starting so early in the month.”</p>
<p>In VA, we call it the King’s Dominion law named after a big amusement park near Richmond. Most public schools in Northern VA start the Tuesday after Labor Day. HS Fall Sports practices start the 2nd week in August.</p>
<p>As a family almost done with the school calendar I have to say I can’t wait! My complaint about summer vacation, and the mandatory Christmas/Feb break/Easter schedule, is that rates are high to go anywhere, and things are crowded. </p>
<p>I would have loved it if the kids went to school full time but had 7 weeks vacation (from the article: “Most industrialized nations offer no more than seven consecutive weeks of vacation. Meanwhile, American school districts offer up to thirteen.”) to use whenever we wanted. Skiing in January, Europe in October, Florida in March…it’s like a dream come true!</p>
<p>And, although I was home with my kids, what a hassle for working families.</p>
<p>But, alas, the teachers’ unions have lobbied for what’s best for them, not for kids and families.</p>
<p>I am not sure I want to see the school year extended. Certainly, I don’t want taxes to increase to pay for the extra school time. I also think kids spend enough time in sterile classrooms. The long “vacation” time provides time for some vacation but also other valuable activities. During HS years, summer jobs provide a break, but also can be powerful motivators about the need for education in order to have a rewarding job.</p>
<p>I wish there were no such thing as summer “homework”.</p>