There was an article written in the August 2 print of TIME Magazine titled The Case Against Summer Vacation. It points out the benefits to literacy development of having kids engaged in academic activities year round. The article states, “Blame Tom Sawyer: Americans have a skewed view of childhood and summertime. We associate the school year with oppression and the summer months with liberty. School is regimen; summer is creativity. School is work and summer is play. But when American students are competing with children around the globe who may be spending four weeks longer in school each year, larking through summer is a luxury we can't afford. What's more, for many children — especially children of low-income families — summer is a season of boredom, inactivity and isolation.
Deprived of healthy stimulation, millions of low-income kids lose a significant amount of what they learn during the school year. Call it "summer learning loss," as the academics do, or "the summer slide," but by any name summer is among the most pernicious — if least acknowledged — causes of achievement gaps in America's schools. Children with access to high-quality experiences can exercise their minds and bodies at sleep-away camp, on family vacations, in museums and libraries and enrichment classes. Meanwhile, children without resources languish on street corners or in front of glowing screens. By the time the bell rings on a new school year, the poorer kids have fallen weeks, if not months, behind. And even well-off American students may be falling behind their peers around the world.” The article goes on to talk about schools stepping it up to provide new approaches to summer school.
I once sat on an airplane by a doctor from the great lakes area. When he found out I was an educator he immediately voiced some of his opinions on public education. His view was similar to the view of the article. He thought summer was a waste of time for kids and that the school year needed to be longer. Revamping public schools seems to be the wave of the future. It will be interesting to see where it takes us.
