School Days

Ah!  Back to School Sales litter the paper with their ads, enticing parents to shop their stores for needed bargains, but the county fairs keep calling the masses, the sultry summer days still abound, and no trees have seriously started changing leaf color in preparation for their winter hiatus.  School children, however, will be pulled back into classrooms all over this Ohio county this coming week of August.

I can't say I ever wanted to go back to school while summer still flourished and myriad activities, from swimming, lightning bug catching, picnics, or camping lured me outside.  I remember school starting after Labor Day when I was a child, which somehow seems more fitting to me.  With all the fanfare about children needing education to keep up with the Joneses, I mean, other countries, the argument touted by many calls for starting in mid-August in order to get in an Ohio required 182 days, without extending the school year to mid-June.

Why do we need 182 days of instruction?  How did anyone determine this was the proper number?  Are there school days or parts of days or classes which could be used more efficiently?  Could we not tighten up our schedules and lesson plans if needed?  Actually, all the public schools I know go longer than the required number of hours per day (5 hours minimum for grades 1 -- 6, and 5 1/2 hours minimum for grades 7 -- 12) required by the state of Ohio.  One school district here has the high school students attend 7 hours with a half hour lunch; another one puts in 6 hours and 37 minutes with a half hour for lunch.  These extra hours all add up.

All these hours add up.  By adding all the additional hours together, we provide many extra days of instruction, so schools could actually start after Labor Day and still end in May.  Actually, this also provides a bank of days that could be used for inclement weather days if you get right down to brass tacks, negating the need to make up a few of them.  

Another argument by some is that students forget too much over summer break.  In this modern day when all families either have computers or access to libraries' free computers and usage times, why can't next year's teacher, for instance, send ( or hand out to students before the previous year ends), a summer requirement or project sheet with certain completion dates requiring students to read, do math activities, write, work on a science project, complete a social studies activity, etc., or even provide enrichment opportunities not available during the regular school year to ensure on-going learning, but at a slower, less strenuous pace with a more flexible time frame to accommodate individual family needs and plans?  This can be done at every level, and students without computer/scanner access could be given post-paid envelopes or a drop off location at a library, for instance, to send in assignments.

Teachers could also, in many cases, utilize a seasonal approach if warranted, and focus on summertime in reading, writing, social studies, etc.  It can be fun as well as educational to do activities connected with this special season, from such things as writing poetry dealing with summer, to science projects involving fireflies, to math equations involving Olympic divers or hiking -- the possibilities are endless.  Schools could even run the buses one or two days during the summer, and do field trips, or spend time at 5th grade camps, or do any enrichment activity, rather than use instructional school days.

I think schools should re-evaluate their options and give serious reconsideration to not starting until after Labor Day when kids are more ready to devote time to studies, rather than start (sometimes mid-week) and then stop for the big Labor Day, end-of-Summer activities that occur across the nation.  In addition, poorer schools without air-conditioning in hot-weather climates will be much more student and staff friendly, helping everyone to focus with a later start.  Can't we do some field trip enrichments during summer rather than disrupt entire school days, especially at the middle and high school level, for one class who takes a day for a field trip?  Let's use our time more wisely, be creative, and still enjoy the dog days of summer as well as provide recuperation and vacation time.  Start schools after Labor Day and end at the end of May with some summer projects and summer field trips.  'Tis a season for everything.