Friday, March 26, 2010

Summer breaks are far too long

It's that dreaded time of the year again when school will be out for *two* months. Summer.

Most parents scramble around at this time of the year to find summer "camps" for children. Places that will keep children out of the house for atleast 3 hours, if not more, preferably with transport provided.


Why? A number of reasons. First, a lot of moms work, and no corporate job gives you two months off in summer. Even school teacher moms in private schools get just one month off, and have to plan for the second month for their own children. Second, even if mom stays home, people now mostly live in nuclear families in apartments. It's hard to keep a child busy at home without him gravitating to the television or PC. Invariably mom and child will spend some time EACH day negotiating time for one or both. Third, most families have fewer children (or just one), and it's hard to keep planning playdates (particularly if mom works). Children need the company of their own age group and summer camps are seen as a way of achieving that.

Summer camps exist by the dozen, so it should just be a matter of choosing the one with activities that appeal to your child, right? In practice, however, it rarely works out that way. Summer camps are rarely run by people who do it for the love of children or their trade/craft. More often than not, organizers see camps as a way to make a quick buck from working parents who really have little choice. Rates per week can be as high as Rs 1500 for a child for a few hours away from home. Most often, at best they are summer nannies, at worst, they could even turn out to hurt your child (physically or otherwise).

Summer camps exist to solve a problem. The problem is that of a two month school vacation. Why, in today's day and age, do schools need to break for two months in summer? Do children really need two months of "unwinding"? From what? Their air conditioned classrooms?

My experience with summer break has been that it totally kills routines, apart from making the child "forget" what he has worked so hard to learn the entire school year. So there is the usual mom-child tug of war of doing *some* "holiday homework" just to reinforce lessons learnt. Some educators also feel that long summer breaks hamper learning.

There is another (weird) fall-out of such long vacations. Schools these days have a packed curriculum in order to appeal to today's "go-getter" parents. Now, the curriculum is *so* packed, and given that summer break is *so* sacrosanct, children end up going to school on Saturdays in order to "complete". Even in grade 1.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely believe that children *need* unstructured time to potter around, get bored, find ways to amuse themselves. But *two* months is totally excessive.


Isn't this a completely solvable problem?

Here's my solution. Shorten summer break to three weeks. Add two of those five weeks left over to the school year to ensure that there is no school on Saturday. That leaves us with three weeks. Use those three weeks for activities that parents normally look for in summer camps. Puppetry, woodwork, speech, drama, skating, swimming, basketball, cricket, ... the list is endless.

This, IMO, would make for a truly well-rounded school curriculum and also make a world of difference to working parents.

Views?

3 comments:

  1. I am really starting to appreciate the British system of breaks now..... They get 5 to 6 weeks break during summer (from 3rd week of july to end of August) followed by a week's break after 6 weeks in october, then they get 2 weeks christmas break, followed by a week's break in Feb. This is then followed by 2 weeks' break for easter in March/April and one week's break in May after which it is summer break again.

    Children get fatigued (especially as they get older).... so a break is needed. In that sense the British system was good.... I used to notice that just as my son was getting tired of the school routine, he would get this break for a week or two, and that really did perk him up. The 6 weeks break was nice for our trips to India.

    Two months is a very big break.... and summer camps are a total rip-offs. Schools want to give big breaks because there is money in it for them. They dont pay teachers during that time..... but still take fees for 12 months....... and when they organise summer camps, business is guaranteed from parents (working or not) of the pestering kids going to these schools.... So it is win-win situation for the schools. Have you seen any school not having summer camps now...... Many have academics oriented "classes" as well now-a-days.... better english..... better handwriting... language skiils...... IQ enhancement......... mental maths...... communication skills......life skills..... art and craft...... science clubs...... you name it..... they have it........

    So if you have the luxury, you have to just let the kid relax at home...... and if you can.... convince the kid to do some academic oriented work at home .... may be some educational toys ...... a puzzles book or two.... (word or number puzzles)......

    If not till the system changes we have to just grit our teeth and bear with it.

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  2. I agree to the view that the current summer vacation is too long, (almost 10 weeks this year). Almost all the kids are enrolled in some activity or the other with the sole purpose of getting them out of the parents' hair. There is no old-fashioned play, family outings, visiting grandparents etc that I did as a child. I also dont subscribe to the concept of "holiday homework". It is an oxymoron. I had never even heard of the concept until my son started school and initially I was quite aghast when the school sent a work book for the purpose. Holidays are holidays and homework is homework and never the twain shall meet.

    In this regard what Uma suggests regarding breaks makes a lot of sense. Six-weeks break sounds ideal in summer. We already have a break in October for Diwali/Dussera. A fortnight or so during Xmas and another week for easter. These mid-term breaks shall provide relief from the monotony of regular classwork and tests and help kids rejuvenate, recharge their batteries. Kids shall actually look forward to going back to school!

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  3. I once brought up this idea of introducing traditional games and board games for the kids in our apartment complex as a once or twice a week after school activity so that kids can relax and play in a safe environment.... and would also be nice for parents as a group to be involved with children .....

    But.... no one responded (may be one or two replied).

    I was very helpfully advised by a mother with a 12 year old son, where do parents have the time to sit and play with the kids.... we are all busy.... they have lots of studies to complete and anyway they can play cricket with their friends, that's enough..... BTW why are you asking all the parents to join.... if you want do all these things for your child, just sit and do it for your kid alone.
    Ofcourse, now with summer holidays and costs involved with sending kids to summer camps.... many parents are interested with this idea.... cheap (and probably free) and safe child care..... ask the neighbour to conduct summer camp......

    But Guess What.... I do like this woman's idea.... will just sit and do all this for my kid.... Why should I baby sit others' children....especially when I know I shouldn't be disciplining them when they turn unruly

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