Why so serious?

I get it. In this day and age it's all about efficiency. If something doesn't optimize every second passed then it's time to shake it up and try something new. I get it. Innovation and reform are both positive things, and as a young PR professional I respect the two greatly, I do. And perhaps I will be shooting myself in the foot a few years from now when I read back on this and even dared to question the two – yet, here I am and boldly stating that the idea of getting rid of summer vacation because times have changed is boo-hockey.

I am willing to bet that school children still get the same glimmer in their eyes as we all did as they day dream about long, sunny, summer days staring out the windows of enclosed classrooms. I bet they still count down to the second the last bell rings at the end of June as they burst out the doors with countless days of adventuring to come. Grasping their report cards and rushing to the nearest corner store with a special deal on for all the kids out of school for the summer.

 That was one of my most vivid memories... There was a Green Gables Convenience store right across the street from Claude D. Taylor Elementary School that, every year, would give free slushies to every student that came in with a report card. Jamie's mum was the store owner and her sweet smile never faded even as long as that line got stretching down Trites road. But it wasn't about efficiency, it wasn't about profitability – it was about the spirit of summer and celebrating a break.

Have we lost that feeling? Have we forgotten what it is like to be kids? Have we really become so self-centred that the idea of having a full time babysitter is more important than the excitement and energy kids get from being wild and free? The best way to learn has always been, and will always be, exploring. There is no time any of us will argue was better for that than summer vacation.

Summer is more than just an age-old tradition. Sure, it isn't the majority of folks going home to help farm the crops (let's not generalize though and assume that doesn't still happen), but there are other forms of work that need doing. They are right, times have changed. We may not all need the months off to help harvest the crop but there is a lot of work that does need to get done in those months. Students need to work now in order to save money and pay for further education – unless this reform is also going to include tuition cuts? Because let's be clear:

A) no one is going to hire someone for three weeks four times a year
B) with students being intensively working from dawn until dusk in the classroom they would really need those couple week breaks for their own sanity, and
C) if profitability and efficiency are still big priorities for education than I don't think tuition is going anywhere but UP.

Sure, elementary school children aren't using the summer vacation to make money but the majority of elder students rely on those summer months to fund their post-secondary education and reduce the astronomical amount of debt they'll graduate college or university with. So what are the elementary school children doing, well, learning! That’s right. Imagine – learning that doesn’t take place in the classroom?! My god, a novel concept! There is a wealth of learning that happens outside the classroom and especially on summer vacation. It is when young children are able to explore and focus on not just academic growth but personal development as well.

Students need time to recharge and balance their mental health. Summer vacation has always been integral to that concept. Why are we trying to push adult schedules on our children? Who is arrogant enough, or ignorant enough, to believe that a child has the same ability to cope and manage a full time schedule at that such a young age just because it works better for our schedules as adults? Our young people's education shouldn't be based on the convenience of the parents it should be based on the best growth plan possible. That includes good mental health and school/life balance.

The young formative years during K-12 are not just for learning curriculum. They are for learning about ourselves, about the world, about our communities, about work experience, about time management, about exploring, about meeting new people. If we are so eager to reform education then it won't be a new schedule that does it. That notion is boo-hockey. It will take a serious examination of what skills children should be learning in these influential years at school and how we as a community can support them within the structure that still permits growth, exploration, and valuable time available for work experience.