Why do we have “summer break” ?
Exploring random questions
Why do we have summer break? Why do we not have spring off? Or a big break in the fall? Why summer?
It’s commonly believed that school kids started taking summers off in the 19th century so they’d have time to work on the farm. Nice as that story is, it isn’t true. Summer vacation has little to do with tilling fields and more to do with sweaty, rich city kids playing hooky and their sweaty, rich parents. — http://mentalfloss.com/article/56901/why-do-students-get-summers
Before the Civil War, farm kids never had summers off. They went to school during the hottest and coldest months and stayed home during the spring and fall, when crops needed to be planted and harvested. Meanwhile, city kids hit the books all year long — summers included. In 1842, Detroit’s academic year lasted 260 days!
But as cities got denser, they got hotter. Endless lanes of brick and concrete transformed urban blocks into kilns, thanks to the “urban heat island effect.” That’s when America’s swelling middle and upper class families started hightailing it to the cooler countryside. And that caused a problem. School attendance wasn’t mandatory back then, and classrooms were being left half-empty each summer. Something had to give.
Interesting.
So by the turn of the century, urban districts had managed to cut about 60 schooldays from the most sweltering part of the year. Rural schools soon adopted the same pattern so they wouldn’t fall behind. Business folks obviously saw an opportunity here. The summer vacation biz soon ballooned into what is now one of the country’s largest billion-dollar industries.
Seems like still random…is this the best way to learn?
How do other countries view “summer break?”
A few examples:
In Bangladesh, summer vacation begins in mid-May and ends in mid June (4 weeks). According to Bengali calendar summer vacation related with availability of different kinds of summer fruits in the month of Joishtho (mid May to mid June). This is slightly odd for schools to open before the summer solstice begins. Also, it is becoming difficult for children to attend school in high temperatures.
In Bolivia, summer vacation runs from early December to early February[5] (2 months).
In Estonia, summer holidays start in the beginning of June, the date ranging for different grades. School begins every year on September 1, with a week off in autumn, 2 weeks off at Christmas and a week in spring.
In Greece, the summer vacation lasts for 3 months. Schools close June 15 and reopen on September 11. Universities generally close mid-July but with great differences between faculties.
It seems like most countries run a “summer break…” Would that dispel the idea that this was caused by rich people wanting to take the summer off?
