Yesterday was the last day of school here in Saint Paul. The summer has officially started, even if it is a bit cold and rainy outside. The kids now have nearly 3 months to forget everything. But does it have to be this way?
The school year as we know it is an artifact from the days when kids were needed on the farm to do all the work during the summer. This is still true in many parts of Minnesota, but for most of the kids it’s just a long vacation. Parents who work, which are the vast majority of all parents, have to find something for the kids to do all summer. This creates a long list of daycamps and programs designed to keep the kids bizzy through the long vacation.
The end result is that the colder months are for serious study and the warmer months for more fun, relaxed learning. My son is going to take some more Tae Kwon Do during this time, which is a great thing to learn. But does it have to be as compartmentalized, with the fun stuff now and the hard stuff later?
Given the arrangement we have now, the integration of mind and body that would come from learning martial arts in the morning and math in the afternoon is missing. We are teaching the kids that their lives are lived in episodes, separate times with separate purposes. It’s inherently out of balance.
It would make much more sense to have a year-round school where there is plenty of time for kids to learn the fun and creative stuff while the math and English is spread out over the year. The main lesson, that learning is a life-long thing, would be taught through a seamless integration of all the different parts of their learning experience.
Naturally, a lot of parents and kids will miss the daze at the beach. The kids especially, of course. But there is plenty of time for a few weeks off each season to spend time with the family. There’s a lot to be said for months of good old fashioned quantity time goofing off and doing nothing, but that isn’t the way it happens for most families. The kids go straight from school to daycamps of some kind. Why not integrate all of this and make one nurturing, educational world that lasts all year?
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 
Sorry to say so but it probably will never happen except in slow incremental small organized steps. There is too much organized resistance from tax haters, the educators, the summer camps and day camp organizations, and small businesspeople in Northern Minnesota. You would need overwhelming strong support from the MN chamber of commerce and you never know that could happen. Really I’m serious truthfully.
Could you imagine a GOP or a DFL governor canididate running on a platform that he is going to extend the school year by 6 weeks, raise taxes and oh by the way at the end of 12 years MN kids will be somewhat better prepared than those in Wisconsin for their
learning and working lives? Too many people are fairly satisfied with the status quo or at least it is too hard to change. Those that are fortunate or rich enough to enroll their kids in some programs probably like that it gives their kids an advantage that other kids don’t get.
There are alternatives, i.e. KIPP but I don’t think they can keep their standards to such a high level. Crossroads/Crosswinds public grade school in St. Paul has a year round schedule with 2-3 weeks off every quarter. It also has fill in programs for those off weeks for working parents or kids who need catch up. In St. Paul public school’s underperforming children go to summer school already. Many of these kids still underperform due to many other learning issues. I know my Dad taught summer school. Also you would need to install air conditioning.
On another note there are very few farm kids anymore and even fewer who work like they used to. Cultivation, fertilizing and rock picking has been mechanized as has hay harvests (see those big round bales). Feeding and milking is mechanized. They often milk 3 times per 24 hour cycle and have adult teams/employees for that. Other parts of the farm are so toxic or sterile that you wouldn’t want your children working there ever see a large pork, chicken, or turkey farm/factory? Farm kids are still getting great experience in animal husbandry and judging. If you really needed kids for farming it would be in early May and October. Then you could have them driving but now we use mostly humungous trucks and tractors.
I had a great working experience as a 11-15 year old child every July. I would weed soybean fields. In sixth grade a friend and I did it on our own. Got up early, grabbed food, biked to the field and walked the rows using a hoe, corn knife or hands/backs. If it was weedy you only did one row at a time, if it was fairly clean you did 3. We were honest, kept track of our hours, got judged and informed. Went home at noon to relax in the heat of the day after we cleaned up.
What do you call it when a confluence of events/actors result in bad policy even though they never communicated with each other? It is not a conspiracy, but I do think the intelligensia of this country have been bought off and co-opted.
P.S. to this day I can identify 24+ different kinds of weeds.
Ok, a little bragging, but it is relevant. I have a pretty smart kid. She doesn’t need an incentive or a structure to read. But she doesn’t always pick what I would choose for her. So sometimes, in fact often, I choose something for her. I almost never tell her that she can’tread something, I just ask her to read a book that I have chosen too. Bob Collins would roll his eyes, but TV doesn’t exist in our house. I don’t miss it. She doesn’t seem to either. She does miss school in the summer, not just the social aspect. She misses the stimulation of learning. I’ve printed out some of the web resources for homeschooling parents and give her a little homework. She loves it, she learns and no one is whining about higher taxes. Every teacher I’ve ever spoken with has re-affirmed, the first and most important learning is in the home.
Well I’ll brag too. My son may very well be one of the top 3 students at his high school. Too be honest with you I don’t know what effect I have had on him. I took him to music early I’m a very good singer but not a musician, he can’t carry a tune, I sorta regret that he didn’t pick up on more hymns at church. I coached his baseball team for three years which was a very good experience. He loved a week at camp. Introduced him to golf and football which are now too expensive. Took him to John Wayne movies at the Oak (most of his movies are really quite gentle). Many hikes. Sometimes I wish I had my little grade school wiffle ball friend ‘cuz that all I did. Oh and comic books too.