It feels almost sacrilegious to say, butsummerbreakistoolong.It’s a quarter of the year (more than 2,000 hours). Doesn’t that already make the case?
It’ssummer, so I can daydream: Schools should offer more instructional days. Some U.S. schools have started to, and other countries do.
I hesitate to suggest taking some of the best things in life from kids:Summeroffers more time for the outdoors, family, friends, new activities, travel, rest and creativity. But those can still be had in less time, and are not the reality for lower-income kids.
Children and teacher assistants at The Kwong Kow Chinese summer school play at a local park on July 21, 2022, in Boston. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Thelongbreakmade sense in the past, but nolonger.It was established around1900so that city-dwellers could flee the heat before air conditioning was invented. In 1900, fewer women did paid work –20.6%of women, with a sixth of those in the arguably more family-friendly field of farming. That left 8 in 10 women more free to help with kids, although they were also doing unpaid domestic labor.
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By the 1970s, approximatelyhalfof women with minor children worked (includingpart-time), and today it’s aboutthree-quarters. Amongfatherswith minor children, 93.4% work. Meanwhile, full-time American workers takefewer thanfour weeksof paid time off.
In the past, parents also had more support from extended family, with grandparents nearby and more siblings and cousins for their kids to play with. Today, it’s not as easy to just send the kids outside all day, when many areas are plagued with traffic and not designed to be child-friendly. Plus, adults are less likely than nowadays to help oversee other people’s children when they’re outside playing.
I believe in small government, but providing educationisone of government’s most important roles. If you believe in taxpayer-funded public education at all, then why not a little more? Of course, if public schools offer more instructional days, private schools would follow suit and would increase tuition, but, except for the most expensive private schools, it would still be more affordable, or comparable to, the cost of camp.
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Camps are often only for afewweeks,not during regular work hours or for limited age groups. The patchwork parents create to manage kids and work reduces their productivity; or some kids just go to the same camp allsummer, which – unless it’s a pricey camp offering a lot of variety –isnot as good as going to more school. Every camp requires parents to entrust their children to another group of new peopletoo, and adjusting to lots of camps can be stressful on kids.
Localities offer freesummerprogramming for the low-income, but otherwise week-longcamps range from$200 to $800. For parents who have budgeted for the expense, they may still decide it’s better to save the money.The Federal Reserve recently reported that manyparents are not doing well financially: “About 64% of parents living with children under the age of 18 said they were doing all right financially in 2023.”
Justbreaking up thesummerbreak, with the same amount of instructional days,isnot a good option.A smallportionof U.S. school districts, less than 4%, have adopted “year-round schooling”or a “balanced calendar.”It spreads outbreaks, with the benefit of reducing burnout and making time available for remediation.
To help working parents, schoolshaveprogramming during the addedbreaks. Butthe number of schools using this calendar has declined recently, as it’s hard on parents with kids in different schools, complicates the schedule for extracurricular activities andsummerjobs, costs more in air conditioning,isopposed by the tourism industry, and more.
VideoSince it doesn’t add instructional days, itdoesn’timprove academic performance.Earlier this year,Walesput offconsideration of trimming its six-weeksummerbreakby adding a week to another holiday.
Adding instructional daysisthe solution.Logically, aslongas kids learn anything at school, they will learn more with more instruction time.U.S. studentsperformbelow average compared to international peers.
Researchisunclearhowsignificantsummerlearning loss or the “summerslide”is,but alongbreakisa missed opportunity. Many schools have also reduced recess, and adding more school days would allow for adding that back.
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However, it should be noted that American students spendmore hoursin school thanisthe average among peer nations, due tolonger school days, even though the U.S. hasfewer school days, averaging180 days.American students also receive morefundingthan international peers.
VideoThat’s where, asRick Hess argues in his book“The Great School Rethink,”schools need to be more efficient in how they use the school day.Hecitesa study that found one school’s disruptions tallied up to 10 to 20 days of school instruction time per year.He says schools should work on efficiencybeforeadding more schools hours. I’d argue they should do both.
School choicewould also help here – with more education providers outside of the bureaucratic public system, they can offer a greater variety, including more school days.
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Of course, teachers will need to be paid more for more time. One way toisto cutadministrativestaff, which hasalmost doubled in 20 years.
There are many obstacles to instituting such a massive change, such as resistance fromteachers, and I can’t say I’m hopeful that mysummerdaydream will come true.Less than 1% of U.S. elementary schools offer extended-year calendars.
VideoButmanyother developed countries have figured out how to offer a shortersummerbreak: Sweden’sisnine weeks; France, China and Norway’siseight weeks; Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands’issix weeks.
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Leisurely Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal have a similarlylongbreakto the U.S., with 12-13 weeks ofsummerbreak; Ireland and Canada have around 10 weeks off.
My kids have had fun thissummer, but it’s been challenging to find time to keep them engaged in healthy activities while I work. They’ll be happy to return to a regular routine, their good friends, regular teachers, and a variety of learning and play.
Eleanor Bartow is the features editor at The Federalist. She was an editor at the American Enterprise Institute and The Daily Caller and a reporter at Congressional Quarterly.
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