Is summer break going away?

[Lucario454]

I've noticed lately that summer break is getting shorter. We used to get three months, and then the next year we got two months and three weeks, and now we have two months and a half. My family and I think that they're trying to ease us into year round school. I need my summer! School makes my brain bleed! I need at least a couple of months to rest after a school year. I also use summer to visit relatives that live far away, and I can't miss going to the beach with them.

I want summer break! I swear that when they get rid of our summer, there will be a riot and I will be leading it! >

 

[Linkachu]

Huh. I've never heard any plans for such a thing to happen, and pretty sure summer break hasn't been shortening here in Canada (at least not where I live). Where do you live, and has the school board released any statements as to why they've been extending the schooling year?

 

[Doctor Oak]

As I'm:

A) Not in America

B) Not in school any more (and there's no chance of the Unis ditching their break as they kinda need them to set everything up for the next year)

I say YES. Drop the summer break for all you hooligans.

And do it here too - it'll keep the little shits off the streets in the summer an allow me to enjoy them myself.

 

[Lucario454]

Huh. I've never heard any plans for such a thing to happen, and pretty sure summer break hasn't been shortening here in Canada (at least not where I live). Where do you live, and has the school board released any statements as to why they've been extending the schooling year?

They have said a few things in the way of " We belive students need to have better or more education."

The point is, students need a good break. A lot of people I know have relatives that live a good ways away. I personally like to have a week to hang out with all my cousins. Considering all my girl cousins live six hours away. Thats only if we don't stop on the way.

People think when it gets down to year round school, we'll have a week for summer. So that's enough time for what? Buying new supplies and a day or two at the beach? As my brother, sister, and I all need to get stuff for school, I takes a day or two. The teachers would be in panic. ;D There's no way that they could get everything ready in a week and still get a little vacation.

 

[DragonTrainer86]

I wouldn't honestly be that annoyed if there was no summer break, because I like school and I'm a pretty good student. Also, I find school a good place to catch up with friends, because my house is pretty far away from my school. At least school gives me something to do.

 

[Tatile]

Three months? What public school are you attending?

Here in England in the state's schools (at least when I went) the summer holidays were for the month of August and I think July. I can't remember that well. Yes pupils need a break - and the further you go with your exams (like GCSE's and A levels (yes I am using English examples here, so what, I don't know the American education system)) the more time you get off. It's called study leave and you NEED it.

It is also unlikely that you summers hols will be cut down to a week. The schools couldn't get all the new material, class set ups, student applications, transfers etc. done in a week. Teachers need time off as well surprisingly, they're not robots bent on shoving Wuthering Hieghts down your neck (great love story, hate it with a burning fiery passion).

Besides, you do need breaks. (I always found summer holidays to be to long for myself, but that's more for personal reasons that objective ones. In fact it's almost the same reason why I disliked the half-terms (one week off, seemingly at random points throughout the year).) At the young, kiddie ages you have a need for education, but not all of that can be gained from inside the classroom. But that's not the point. Over here, working adults are entitled to four weeks off - for various reasons. Children most likely get more because they're still developing and the daily monotony of their future lives hasn't hit them yet.

Hmm, trying to talk about the innocence of children and the depressing reality of being an office worker isn't working it seems.

Ah well.

Really, you're overreacting. I'm sure you didn't need three months to visit your cousins. Hell, my sister's only spending about two weeks in Jo'burg next month, she doesn't need until late September to be there (she needs that to get all her crap sorted and to do reading before her Law course starts). The education authorities might be extending the school year, by cutting a few days here and there, but your holidays won't disappear completely. They're too valuable for the running of the school (it can also calm you lot down for the teachers when it comes up to Christmas/summer).

 

[Lucario454]

Well I kind of need at least two. See I have my cousins in one state that takes a long way to get to from mine. I like to spend a week with them because I only see them one week in Christmas and maybe two in the summer. My guy cousin and I like to hang out for a few days, then it's time to be with the girls. After that week, we have our annual trip to the beach house and that takes a week. Mom always has to put us in three differrent vacation bible schools, each lasting a week.

So there goes a month.

Mom and Dad can't come to the beach anymore, so they spend time with us on a completly separate trip. That takes a week. Then there's the weeks in between where we pack, and buy school supplies.

And that's what we try to fit into summer vacation. I know a lot of my friends have an even tighter vacation plan.

 

[Teapot]

Everything Tatile said, I completely agree with. I get bored out of my /mind/ with just six weeks - a month and a half - of holiday a year. Even with revision and whatnot to do. Now I'm facing over two months of inactivity, I really need to either get out more or get a proper hobby. Preferably both!

It has always made me wonder why American schools have so long off - it doesn't really seem necessary to me. A lot of people I've spoken that ARE American and have gone through 3 months off school agree with what I said - they got bored very quickly.

 

[Shiny Motley]

Here's the deal. I hate and love summer break at the same time.

Well, summer just started for me, it's the 3rd full weekday I have, and I'm already bored out of my mind.

That said, I do feel that they're shortening the breaks a bit much. We used to have breaks in May, now it starts really close to my birthday, which is halfway until June. Close as in a week away.

Also, during the school year, I've found myself looking forward to breaks more and more. Even weekends aren't fun anymore, what with all my projects and homework. And I hear that high school's even worse.

See, here's the thing. We need education, but not as in "oh my goodness all year education lol it'll make them sooo much smarter and stuff!" We need breaks, but not huuuuuge ones like summer. I think we need a balance of school days in a row and days of actual BREAK without homework and stuffs, because weekends aren't breaks as you still have projects to do and homework to work on.

Basically what I'm saying is that I want school, but have little breaks in between that last no more that one week and no less than 3 days. And seriously, what can you do in 3 months worth of time anyways without getting bored out of your mind, unless you're visiting another country or something?

 

[Linkachu]

Must agree with Data and Tatile here. There's no reason to overreact as I highly doubt they'd ever completely do away with summer break. Maybe they'll cut it down to two months, but never to a single week (... not counting the far future where the world is united under a single ruler and science fiction novels become even more of a reality)

To me, it doesn't seem necessary to have three months of summer vacation if you're not at a working age. Two months is more than enough to recuperate, go on vacation, visit friends, etc. Usually after that amount of time off kids are either bored out of their skulls or they're driving their parents crazy.

 

[NonAnalogue]

People think when it gets down to year round school, we'll have a week for summer.

Just wanted to pop in and say that that's complete and utter crap. My brother attended a year-round school, and they still got three weeks to a month for summer. In fact, here, check out this schedule. They get five weeks for summer. This page has examples of the most common year-round schedules (single-track), and the shortest break on there is a month.

Multi-track schools are a different story, admittedly. But the same page has examples of the most commonly used multi-track schedules as well. The latter two multi-track schedules I linked to have reasonable summer breaks - about a month. The other schedules have shorter summer breaks, but they also have three-week breaks scattered throughout the year like they were going out of style. Seriously, I sat and gaped at the screen at the amount of breaks those students get during the school year.

tl;dr: Your summer break is going nowhere, and if it does, you'll have ample time off during the year to do whatever, so stop whining.

 

[POH!KEMON]

I hope not. in Big Bear, we intend to have 6 weeks of summer because of our other breaks. Our fall breaks and spring breaks, it's usually 2 weeks; but for winter break, it's quite long (4-5 weeks depending on the snow days).

 

[Dragodden]

I have to admit that I HAVE heard talks about full year education here in Canada. At the moment they seem to be isolated to certain private schools. In these situations the students get a few weeks here and there over the year for some respite, but otherwise it is a year-round thing. Don't quote me as this is hearsay, but that's what I have heard. Surprisingly enough, the students in these systems seem to like it a lot! I remember getting really excited about going back to school at the end of the summer.. (I must have been wanting for some hurting or somethin').

Although I have heard this, I think it's far from becoming mandatory in the public school system.

 

[DJ Tony]

My summer break in the high school i attend is from June 10th to September 11th, so it hasnt really gotten shorter but i live in New York, and i have heard a lot of talk of people saying to shorten the summer so that school starts again in august and and there was talk about getting rid of summer completely and have school all year round. But luckily there was a lot of parents fighting to help the cause to keep summer breaks around.

 

[pikapower94]

In Missouri, we got off May 27th and we go back to school on August 13th. Our summer break is entirely too long. Not to sound like one of those awkward, annoying conspiracy buffs, but I think the reason they let us out for this long is SO we'll be excited to go back at the end of summer. If they let us off for only two weeks, nobody would WANT to go back to school. However, when you have two and a half months of utter monotony [face it, no matter what somebody from your school says, their summer was not as fabulous and extreme as they said unless their mother is an assassin and their father traveled the world and forced them by his side] you NEED to go back or you'll crush your skull in with a nut cracker.

 

[Brendan Savem]

Okay, you might have noticed the summer getting longer, but have you noticed that maybe some of your other holidays are getting longer, or becoming more numerous?

The law (or whatever evil paper the government follows) states that kids need to be in school for a certain number of days/hours each year. So, when extra holidays form, summertime is shortened to compensate for it. As much as it sucks, its true.

 

[NonAnalogue]

How is it evil? How does it suck? Think about this from other perspectives. If those rules weren't in place and there weren't a hard limit on how many days a student needs to be in school, then I imagine a lot of districts would cut down the number of school days right off the bat to save some money. This may not sound so bad for you, but think of the consequences. Teachers, already paid criminally low, get paid even less because they don't teach as many days. The students don't get as much education time in, which is especially bad when you realize that students in the US are already falling behind students in other countries. If anything, students need to be in school more, not less.

To summarize: Not everything can be viewed from the perspective of a student.