B r e a k s

Now that it's officially winter break at our school, I think it would be suitable to talk about breaks and vacations in general.  At our school, we have a half-week Thanksgiving Break, a 2-week winter break, a 1-week Spring Break, and an enormous 2-month summer.  However, at some schools, the breaks are elongated and there is a very short (usually 3-week) summer vacation.  The school administrators that establish these breaks believe that a shorter summer helps students retain the information they learned from the prior school year.  They also believe that three weeks of summer is enough time to relax and vacation.

In my opinion, I believe that system is too intense and unreasonable.  Three weeks?  Seriously?  Summer is a customary time of relaxation, and by cutting it down by more than a half, there will be a lot more unhappy kids unwilling to learn.  Not only that, summer traditions like overnight camp and adventure trips will not be able to happen.  I would not be the same person if I had not gone to overnight camp (actually, I have gone for the past 8 summers).  These camps and other summer programs (which help to stimulate the economy) would perish if this break system were established at every school.  There's the notion in these people that you forget what you learn over a long summer, but let me tell you from personal experience: that is almost completely untrue.  First off, most students keep their binders and such from the year, which contains all of the stuff they learned throughout the year.  Second, most topics are revisited in future classes, forcing you to retain all of the learned material.  Students have a sort of muscle memory when it comes to learning; if they pay attention, the information is stored in a vault in their heads.  Though with difficulty, they are able to access this information again.  I'm perfectly satisfied with the breaks at my school, but a short three-week summer kills the essence of summer.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.