<p>Who says school’s out?" The opportunities for summer study and enrichment programs mentioned in this article are truly amazing, but as the author points out, “all that enrichment doesn’t come cheap” both in terms of time and money. Between camp, sports, etc. the long, hazy days of summer “downtime” have become crammed with programed activities. New statistics tell us that while academic summer programs have increased by 78 percent over the past nine years (that is according to the American Camp Association), less than half of teenagers these days are working. In June, 48 percent of those ages 16 to 19 were employed or looking for work, compared with 60 percent in June 2000. U.S. Department of Labor reveal that summer study among teenagers has tripled in the past 20 years. For many folks, however, it seems that to prepare for college “one high-octane summer program isn’t enough.”</p>
<p>Interesting resources on the flip side of the argument aka “summer slide” can be found on the Johns Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning website:</p>
<p>Summer slide is a consequence of unstructured summers. The slide means that students tend to score lower on tests of achievement, especially in math and reading, at the end of the summer than they did on the same tests before summer break. On Summer Loss: On average, all students regardless of socio-economic status, lose approximately the same degree of mathematical computation over the summer months. Summer loss in reading seems to be strongly tied to family income “On average, middle-income students actually experience slight gains in reading performance over the summer months” while lower SES students (many of whom, no doubt have to work over the summer) suffered losses.</p>
<p>I don’t want to get into a “which is better, summer job or summer enrichment program?” discussion. For me, the take-away message was “I had a blast.” So did my kids (music for one, academic for the other).</p>
<p>I’m hoping that since it’s only been, what, a week? since the last discussion on this topic that we’ll be able to let this one either fade a bit or develop in a new direction, but just like posts on student spending money, religion, healthcare, and underage drinking, there are some topics that people will be happy to discuss again and again. :)</p>
<p>Parents need ot understand their children and their needs. The Resnick family in the article seem to be doing this. The son is enrolled in programs throughout the summer while the daughter is working as a camp counselor. And in between they are scheduling a 2 week family vacation.</p>
<p>Originaloog, I agree! It depends on the kids and your value about the summer break. I wanted my 16 year old son to work this summer, but he wanted to take precalculus. He wanted to do so to advance into AP Calculus his junior year. It has worked out great because it was his choice to do that.</p>
<p>Marite - I agree that the major point and take-away message of the OP article was “I had a blast” rather than just packing the summer with high octane vanity programs or for that matter internships. Some interesting comments on all this by Peter Van Buskirk in the Inside Higher Ed piece on college enrichment programs “The College Experience … If You Can Pay” which also takes a critical look at Exploration Summer Programs - EXPLO.</p>