Summer Vacation A Very American Tradition

For the last one hundred years or so, American school children have eagerly looked forward to summer vacation. The sun is shining and school is out for three glorious months. Each generation has fond memories of trips to the beach or lake, playing outdoors until it gets dark around nine o’clock, going to camp or camping out in the backyard, visiting friends and relatives, or just kicking back and doing nothing. For three glorious months.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the curriculum and length of the school year varied widely within towns, counties, states, and the nation. Children in rural communities most often had a semester in fall and spring, with breaks for winter and summer. Their schools were usually one room for all levels; their curriculum prepared them for rural life with basic reading, writing and mathematical knowledge. Children in urban communities attended school fall, winter and spring. They would have had school during the summer, but families who could escaped the sweltering urban summer. They spent those months in cooler places. Urban education prepared high school  graduates to meet the needs of an industrial or commercial workplace.


In the mid-1800s, educators began to see the problems for children, parents, communities, states, and the nation caused by lack of cohesion and continuity in education. There were no “systems” at the time and very few unified school districts.
The nation was growing by leaps and bounds. As industrialization, entrepreneurial endeavors, and commercialization developed, a great demographic shift was occurring. People looked for jobs and moved from rural to urban areas, while a growing middle class influenced the economy.

Reformers in the 19th century advocated for standardization in education. That included the numbers of days in a school year; breaks within that school year for holidays and teacher preparation; grade levels with corresponding curriculum; and teacher certification. These standardization discussions were probably very contentious. They argued about financial considerations and the institution of mandatory school attendance. Change came slowly, but developing urbanization, growing population, and domestic migrations came together during the Depression in the 1930s.


And summer vacation became a national institution.


That’s right--Americans generally believed this was the best solution nationwide for children and families. Rural families would have children for chores and farm/ranch tasks and urban families would be able to find cool places to get through summer.

Flash forward 100 years to 2021. We now have air conditioning and building materials that mitigate summer heat and humidity. Farms and ranches have automation to minimize the need for laborers. Today, in many families both parents work outside the home and childcare is a very big concern, especially during the summer spell. Many children regress academically during the months off and require remediation for one to two months upon returning to the classroom. Some Americans are concerned that school buildings and grounds that are vacant for three months waste tax payer money because though not in use, the facilities still need electricity, water, and regular maintenance. Of great concern to politicians and economists, American education ranks in the middle of the international pack on science, math, and reading scores.

Some districts across the nation do have “year-round” schedules that divide the students into tracks and provide several vacation breaks throughout the year. That sort of scheduling has had supporters and naysayers, for it adds complexity to the calendars of families and school staff. It can, though, alleviate school crowding, plus levels of student forgetting are said to be lower. http://www.nayre.org/
 
Despite the concerns, summer vacation is probably safe for a while. To rearrange the entire education system or even smaller segments of it would be a massive undertaking. Union contracts, local school budgets, family travel plans, the leisure and travel industry, agreement on academic standards – these are the tip of the iceberg. The real clincher might be that some parents, educators and economists see a real benefit in children having time to be children – to run through the sprinkler (or fire hydrant), climb trees at will, enjoy the lake or ocean, eat watermelon on the lawn (or stoop), make stuff like go-karts and pool noodle light sabers, read books, or just sit and listen to the songbirds. Summer gives kids time to recalibrate and learn on their own things they might not ever learn in school.

What do YOU think?

Cheryl Stewart
MOTAL Board Member and Treasurer

Sources:
Altman, Alex. “A Brief History Of: Summer Vacation.” Time Jun 19, 2008 http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1816501,00.html

de Melker, Saskia and Weber Sam. “Agrarian roots? Think again. Debunking the myth of summer vacation’s origins.” Education Sep 7, 2014 12:37 PM EDT https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/debunking-myth-summer-vacation

“Education Rankings by Country 2021.” World Population Review Jun 8, 2021 12:40 PM PDT https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/education-rankings-by-country

Gold, Kenneth. Washington Post Sep 4, 2018 3:00 a.m. PDT https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/04/myth-behind-summer-break/

Pedersen, James. “The History of School and Summer Vacation.” Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education, 5(1), 2012 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1134242.pdf

Pew Research Center. U.S. Students’ Academic Achievement Still Lags That of Their Peers in Many Other Countries.” Feb 11, 2019 https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/ft_17-02-14_stem_dot-2/

Rosalsky, Greg. “The Case for Summer Vacation.” NPR: Newsletter Aug 20, 2019 6:30 AM ET https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/08/20/752524359/the-case-for-summer-vacation