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DavidAOlson -> RE: Vikes Water Cooler Thread (7/28/2014 10:11:07 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lynn G.
I wonder if we'll ever get to the point where we go all year? I think the California model (someone correct me if I'm wrong) is to go all year, but they still have a couple of months of breaks - just divided up into smaller chunks spread throughout the year. That makes a lot of sense to me because they have shown how much time is wasted every fall reviewing the stuff kids have forgotten over the summer before they can begin the new material. We are no longer an agricultural society in which families need their kids to help out with farm chores all summer. That model is WAY outdated and I would definitely vote for a change.
Since I grew up in a farming community, it wasn't true for me. I know that's the exception.
In the midwest, at least, there are some physical plant issues, such as schools skimping on air conditioning because they're not in session during the hottest months of the year.
And of course, wouldn't it be great if parents kept working with kids over the summer so that schools didn't have to start with that review? But how many schools put out a list of review items for kids to work on during the summer? FWIW, there are a number of excellent & cheap summer workbooks available. My kids liked the BrainQuest series, but unfortunately I don't think that continues past grade 4 or so.
What surprises me is that college students are largely on the same agricultural schedule. Yes, there are summer classes, but those sessions are dramatically underutilized compared to fall/winter/spring. If an alternate schedule were so beneficial, one would think that college students would have led the change years ago. So I don't think it's just agriculture that's driving it. People are more willing to study when the weather sucks.
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