Evening Marc. He sounds like a great medieval character and I love reading about these extraordinary people and the times in which they lived.
The End of Summer Vacation
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Was out for a walk and was thinking…school is never canceled on account of sunshine, so why shouldnt we switch summer for winter? That way there are no snow days (which have to be recovered at the end of the school year delaying summer vacation) and only one holiday (4th of July) instead of two (Christmas and New Year’s) to contend with!
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There are two reasons I can think of for not changing.
First, I believe it costs more to air-condition a school than to heat it.
Second, teachers can get a Summer Job easier than they can get a Winter job.
I am not saying I think the proposal is a bad one. I just don’t think it will get any traction.
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Schools want to make money with summer programs and nobody will pay for two months of hanging out with snow or rain everyday. The ‘summer thing’ is i am sure having to do with money and how to get more of it for whoever made that decision.
I would prefer year long school to reduce class sizes and keep traffic off the roads, because once summer starts all these yahoos congest the roads with poor driving skills and loud, distorted , and atrocious low end car stereos. Who the F=== wants to here some stupid beat with all his windows rolled down passing cars from the shoulder lane? This is because he has 3 months to sit on a couch with no care in the world.
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There are two reasons I can think of for not changing.
First, I believe it costs more to air-condition a school than to heat it.
Second, teachers can get a Summer Job easier than they can get a Winter job.
I am not saying I think the proposal is a bad one. I just don’t think it will get any traction.
There are plenty of seasonal Christmas season jobs.
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Stole my thunder, ABWorsh. hehe.
Yea, I was thinking it would be easier to get employment in November, December and January instead of June, July and August, and schools won’t have to deal with numerous holidays at the same time.
Also, you mentioned that schools want to make money off summer school, but wouldn’t people be more inclined to purchase courses over winter when it’s yucky outside instead of summer when it’s warm and wonderful?
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Well here in the deep south it is nice and cool in winter and yucky outside in the summer.
I am the opposite of IL. I live behind two schools a high school and an elementary school. Since the little heathens can no longer ride buses and have to be chauffeured in SUVs that must pick up students one at a time least Bin-Laden snatch them, I welcome summer as I can actually come and go without having to plan a trip around school traffic. The traffic to the elementary school normally completely blocks access to the road I live on.
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Because parents/the rest of the world generally enjoys summer as a break as well. That’s when most people travel or take vacations. I don’t think that will ever change.
Besides, kids need to be out doing stuff when the weather is nice. Especially summer jobs like cutting the neighbor’s grass. Let them get schooled when it’s cold and nasty outside.
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/shrug. My experience is that most people prefer their vacations in the winter, when it’s cold and nasty outside. Only reason they do it in summer (from what I’ve over heard and experienced being a teacher and dealing with parents routinely) is because that’s when the kids are out of school. If they are going in summer because of the kids being out of school at that time (as the only factor) then they can just as easily do it in winter if the kids are out of school then. Double win because now you are leaving Wisconsin in the frigid winter, when you have to shovel the drive almost daily because of snow and going to sunny south Florida!
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@Cmdr:
/shrug. My experience is that most people prefer their vacations in the winter, when it’s cold and nasty outside. Only reason they do it in summer (from what I’ve over heard and experienced being a teacher and dealing with parents routinely) is because that’s when the kids are out of school. If they are going in summer because of the kids being out of school at that time (as the only factor) then they can just as easily do it in winter if the kids are out of school then. Double win because now you are leaving Wisconsin in the frigid winter, when you have to shovel the drive almost daily because of snow and going to sunny south Florida!
I think most people would prefer warmer weather when it’s winter, but that’s only if you can afford annual extended vacations to the southern hemisphere.
Plenty of jobs (namely retail) function at their peak in the winter, and their slump in the summer. Naturally, it is the best time to cut labor and take vacations. So it’s not all about school.
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Well here in the deep south it is nice and cool in winter and yucky outside in the summer.
I am the opposite of IL. I live behind two schools a high school and an elementary school. Since the little heathens can no longer ride buses and have to be chauffeured in SUVs that must pick up students one at a time least Bin-Laden snatch them, I welcome summer as I can actually come and go without having to plan a trip around school traffic. The traffic to the elementary school normally completely blocks access to the road I live on.
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Where I am there are a large number of construction jobs in the summer along with park attendants. The Christmas deal goes for about six weeks. The construction deal goes all twelve weeks of summer vacation with several weeks before and after.
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During the summer in my neck of the woods high school kids are forcefully conscripted into slave labor on local farms. (I was one of those kids once.) We have our last frost around Mother’s day so when school lets out that’s the perfect time to plant. Right now they are haying for the live stock. In a few months they will be harvesting corn and shortly after that the apples will be ready for picking.
I have been told that this is historically the reason for summer vacation as well. Farmers kept their kids home for the help instead of allowing them to go to the school house.
LT
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Well, yea, I believe the idea of summer vacation was implemented because the kids were not going to school over the summer anyway, they were out helping around the farm.
But since that’s not an issue for most kids anymore, why not move it to a time of year where kids are out with the flu, families are on vacation, there’s numerous holidays anyway (and those big breaks are worse than a 2 month vacation because teachers plan on a month of review when you come back, they don’t expect to have to start over from the beginning in January because you fried your minds playing video games over Christmas), and of course, there is the risk of frostbite, hypothermia, collisions because of crashing in the snow, etc, etc, etc. We had nearly two weeks off last year because of record breaking cold days and were afraid the children would get injured (frostbite) if they walked, even iwth heavy parkas and mittens!
There are risks in summer too, but they are more easily controlled. You can over heat (get water and sit in a cool building when you get there) and of course you have to enforce some kind of dress code or the kids won’t even bother to get dressed.
Meanwhile, numerous districts are talking about canceling summer break altogether and having year round school. Guess that would be okay, but don’t kids need time to be kids too?
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More kids would be killed if you switched to a summer school year. :evil:
Why?
Being trapped inside with parents would lead to a boiler pressure build up … and explosion of tension. :-o :roll:
Summer vacation is great since the Parents can chase the kids out of the house… and (for the most part), kids want to be outside (this can not be said for the winter… again. for the most part).
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Where I grew up some schools moved to a year round schedule. They go to school for like 3 months and take the 4th month off or something like that.
That way they can get flu season off and have some winter and summer fun as well.
LT
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Yea, that is an issue, Axis, hehe. I chase my kids out in winter too, but I’m an evil person :evil:
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