Abolishing Summer Vacation

Post Reply New Topic

I'm exaggerating to get the point across that (imo) children should not get used to having 1/4 of the year off without schooling. Because, if they do, they're in for a severe cultural shock when they get into the real world of wage-earning. So why not teach them from Day One what to expect 13 to 17 years later?

I've had to let go too many people who could not adjust to schedules, deadlines, and standards of performance to think that it is not a coincidence that what they expect from a professional workplace is what they had experienced since pre-school - coddling, nurturing, and a lackadaisical attitude toward professional work ethics.

Then again, my office is in southern California, just down the road from UCI, where most of the people I've let go have come from.

My apologies, my satire detector failed to go off (as is so often the case with my particular form of AS).

In my opinion, only heartless person, wants to deprive children holiday, Kids have already have enough stress. The kids need from time to time to be just kids, to play with friend, to be in "in love" for the first time, If you knew what i Mean


Here in Europe, teacher unions would strike. What to America that I would not even try, shortened holiday plus your famous 2nd Amendment which make American, so pride it could be "explosive" situation in the school

Here's some scholarly literature on the subject:

Cooper, G., & Sweller, J. (1987). Effects of schema acquisition and rule automation on mathematical problem-solving transfer. Journal of Education Psychology, 79(4), 347-362.
Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., & Muhlenbruck, L. (2000). Making the most of summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monographs of the Society for Research Development, 65(1), 1-118. EJ 630 022.
Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educaiton Research, 66(3), 227-268. EJ 596 384.
Jamar, I. (1994). Fall Testing: Are Some Students Differentially Disadvantaged? Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center.
Karweit, N. (1984). Time-on-task reconsidered: Synthesis of research on time and learning. Educational Leadership, 41(8), 32-35. EJ 299 538.
Karweit, N. (1985). Should we lengthen the school term? Educational Researcher, 14(6), 9-15. EJ 320 591.
Katsiyannis, A. (1991). Extended school year policies: An established necessity. Remedial and Special Education, 12(1), 24-28. EJ 425 645.
Sargent, L. R., & Fidler, D.A. (1987). Extended school year programs: In support of the concept. Education and Training in Mental Retardation, 22(1), 3-9. EJ 360 825

There is culture shock after highschool, yes. But there didn't used to be. Previous generations with a solid 3 month summer vacation adjusted just fine (myself included). One major difference that I see that has happened since I was in college is the loss of the summer job as a highschool staple. It used to be the norm. There are still highschoolers with summer jobs but it seems rarer and rarer. Things seem to have changed culturally but also economically. I think that even if parents tried to get their kids to get the sort of summer job that I had, those jobs don't exist anymore, or exist in much smaller quantities. The summer job softens the culture shock considerably without the harsh measures that I realize are hyperbole but maybe not entirely.

School with a solid chunk of 3 months of summer vacation still should be able to teach schedules, deadlines, standards of performance and work ethics. Schools are run on schedules. Tests are deadlines (and kids today take high stakes tests my generation never took). Standards of performance also come with those high stakes tests (more so than for my generation, which did not have such tests). Clamping down on cheating should also teach work ethics (although here there has been a slip since my generation since standardized testing and holding teachers accountable has led to some teacher-led cheating scandals).

If summer vacation really made it impossible for highschool graduates to cope with a 50 week work year, this problem would have shown up long ago. If there really is the problem that you and whiterabbit describe, I suspect it is more because modern kids have lost the independence that previous generations had. They lost it in the name of safety and educational optimization and now they are adrift in their 20's. It's not because they had too much freedom when kids. It's because they had too little.

So maybe I could be wrong. The idea is testable, though, which makes it an hypothesis.

So let's test it: Compare the aptitudes of American students in maths, sciences, and literacy to the aptitudes of same-aged students from countries that do not have a 3-month Summer break, and see which aptitude scores are higher. Then make a similar comparison between American high-school graduates and their foreign counterparts with respect to the number of each that (1) get admitted to "Ivy-League" schools, and (2) actually graduate with a degree from those same "Ivy-League" schools.

Then we can see which has greater correlation with higher academic results: Students who regularly had a 3-month Summer break, or those who didn't.

/\
Yes, the students that have to suffer through a summer in school will most likely be academically better off but at what cost?
Do we really want a society strictly of worker bees?
As a hate-filled Conservative I have nothing against work but on the other hand all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

And how will they learn to skip stones across the creek if they are in school???
Kids should be made to go outdoors,even the a$$hole Nazis knew this.
Summer should be about kids being outdoors,even if they don't want to go out,it's good for them.Make them go on hikes,end childhood obesity.Most set around like lumps now.
They could never move fast enough to ring a doorbell and run and hide,there is a politically incorrect name for this,but it sure was fun.

"Work is Play! Bondage is Freedom! Poverty is Wealth!"

I can't remember if I first read those word in Orwell's 1984, or in the Bible ... oh, well ...

I think Raptor has a secret liberal side to him.

Dull boys make better obedient workers.

“War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”



No, it's far more enjoyable to be a conservative if for no other reason than the butthurt I can inflict on the left just e being me.

You mean suckers, who like lick boss asses

Bear in mind, eliminating the length of summer holidays does not have to mean increasing the number of teaching days, or teaching hours.

What of a "three weeks on, one week off" schedule, with two or three breaks of three or four weeks.

Or, if we do increase the number of teaching days, that still permits a reduction in hours. Instead of spending six hours in school per day, that could fall to five.

But Raptor,I'm a liberal.and so liberal you could have your "German Pirates"',it's only a symbol and to make it verboten only makes it an enticement.
And you have never offended me,so you must not be doing your job right.

If I haven't offended you yet it only means your not liberal enough.