Summer Brain Drain

[Medusa]

children need to rest in summer days .thats what l have learned

 

[Josie]

children need to rest in summer days .thats what l have learned

Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind. ~Henry Ford

Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals. ~Voltaire

 

[winston53660]

HEY JOSIE!!!!!

 

[Medusa]

Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind. ~Henry Ford

Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals. ~Voltaire

of course they may interact with other children in different learning environments in which they will practise what they have learnt in classroom by real life experiences

learning isnt achieved only in schools

 

[Josie]

of course they may interact with other children in different learning environments in which they will practise what they have learnt in classroom by real life experiences

learning isnt achieved only in schools

Oh, I totally agree with that. It's just many children don't have those great learning environments at home.

 

[Medusa]

Oh, I totally agree with that. It's just many children don't have those great learning environments at home.

its cure is not short summer holiays

 

[Josie]

its cure is not short summer holiays

I also agree with that. It would be a medication, not a cure. The cure has to come from home.

 

[Lutherf]

No but we took several vacations over that 3 months because dad saved up his time off for them. We'd go backpacking, then to the redwoods, then on a fishing trip etc.

Must be nice. My summer "vacation" usually involved one week of camping and the rest of the time getting up to speed on the latest innovations in carpentry, masonry, general labor, basic electric, basic plumbing, roofing.....did I mention such stuff as carrying block and lumber up 3 stories of scaffolding and mixing yard after yard of concrete by hand. Fortunately I was also given time off for some personal fun such as mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, repairing the fence.....


....by the time summer vacation was over I was plenty ready to get back to school where i'd be able to get some rest:lol:

 

[Medusa]

I also agree with that. It would be a medication, not a cure. The cure has to come from home.

l dont think there is much difference between them josie

 

[Josie]

l dont think there is much difference between them josie

Between what?

 

[Medusa]

Between what?

cure and medication

there should be some school psychologists ,counseling psychologists who will determine the needs of children and provide guidance for students ,teachers etc.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

Must be nice. My summer "vacation" usually involved one week of camping and the rest of the time getting up to speed on the latest innovations in carpentry, masonry, general labor, basic electric, basic plumbing, roofing.....did I mention such stuff as carrying block and lumber up 3 stories of scaffolding and mixing yard after yard of concrete by hand. Fortunately I was also given time off for some personal fun such as mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, repairing the fence.....


....by the time summer vacation was over I was plenty ready to get back to school where i'd be able to get some rest:lol:

Bummer dude :lol: I had to mow the lawn but that was it. I lived 2 blocks from the beach so my summers were mostly spent catching waves and chasing girls, caught a few of them too.

 

[CanadaJohn]

Not only do I think kids lose a lot of what they learned the past year over the summer months, but I can testify that teachers get "brain drain" too. At least I do. Every time another year begins, I have to train my brain to get back in the mode of going to work everyday. I usually forget most of the great ideas I had from the past year because I haven't been thinking about it at all for 2 months now. I think it would serve everyone well if we had year-round school...or at least a much shorter summer break.

School, with long summer breaks, come from the time when we lived mainly in agrarian societies and kids needed to be home to help grow and reap the crops. Two plus months off in the summer for both teachers and students is too long - those of us who don't teach know that any vacation longer than a couple of weeks makes it hard to get back on track when it's over. Going to year round schooling might be a way to increase teaching jobs, lower class sizes, and upgrade school facilities but all that costs money and money is in short supply these days.

 

[Gipper]

When kids forget "don't drink bleach", I'll become concerned. Until then, they can play baseball in July.

 

[polgara]

School, with long summer breaks, come from the time when we lived mainly in agrarian societies and kids needed to be home to help grow and reap the crops. Two plus months off in the summer for both teachers and students is too long - those of us who don't teach know that any vacation longer than a couple of weeks makes it hard to get back on track when it's over. Going to year round schooling might be a way to increase teaching jobs, lower class sizes, and upgrade school facilities but all that costs money and money is in short supply these days.

CJ, your comment about "any vacation longer than a couple of weeks makes it hard to get back on track" made me remember something about my working days. I have often mentioned that it only took two days after I returned from vacation to make me forget I ever had a vacation! ...sigh... :lamo:

Year around school would probably help a lot of parents, but if kids had a vote....

 

[Mach]

Wait, I thought the issue with public education was that parents were negligent (not you know, the public school system that is responsible for education). Why would sending those kids home for 3 months to parents who don't care about their child's education, be a good thing? Their summer memories will be of watching TV and getting into trouble yes?

Maybe it would help teachers with the respect thing. I mean, 3 months off a year always is a bit of a slap in the face for people who basically get no practical vacation at all.

For our 6 year old we have optional summer school. It's much more informal, there are more activities and projects, less lecture and no homework. But learning still occurs. And when you want to take them out for two weeks or 4 weeks for a trip or whatever, you can, it's no biggie since they aren't really falling behind anything. Works great for us, and for her.

 

[Republic Now!]

Maybe splitting up the summer break into 3 one-month break periods throughout the year would prevent this sort of thing.

 

[Layla_Z]

Wait, I thought the issue with public education was that parents were negligent (not you know, the public school system that is responsible for education). Why would sending those kids home for 3 months to parents who don't care about their child's education, be a good thing? Their summer memories will be of watching TV and getting into trouble yes?

Maybe it would help teachers with the respect thing. I mean, 3 months off a year always is a bit of a slap in the face for people who basically get no practical vacation at all.

For our 6 year old we have optional summer school. It's much more informal, there are more activities and projects, less lecture and no homework. But learning still occurs. And when you want to take them out for two weeks or 4 weeks for a trip or whatever, you can, it's no biggie since they aren't really falling behind anything. Works great for us, and for her.

We used to have a great summer school like that. The state cut the funding.

 

[carlinkid]

Not only do I think kids lose a lot of what they learned the past year over the summer months, but I can testify that teachers get "brain drain" too. At least I do. Every time another year begins, I have to train my brain to get back in the mode of going to work everyday. I usually forget most of the great ideas I had from the past year because I haven't been thinking about it at all for 2 months now. I think it would serve everyone well if we had year-round school...or at least a much shorter summer break.

oh, so we need to keep kids in prison("school) for longer where they will become increasingly stupid. Yup, that's the answer.

 

[imagep]

Good God Josie are you trying to ruin kids lives and destroy family memories? Summer is when kids get to be kids, they have the rest of their lives to bust ass making a living and family summer vacations to Yellowstone or wherever is the glue that binds.

Most parents can't take all summer off for those yellowstone vacations, unless they are teachers. In my situation, there were only a few times of year that I could take off for a vacation, and only one of those weeks is during the summer.

A couple of times I pulled my kid out of school for a week or so for a family vacation.

In a lot of communities, our schools are among the most expensive and valuable assets that a community has. It's crazy to let them sit vacant all summer. It would be much more cost effective to have year round school, and allow students to progress at their own rate, and allow the possiblity of a student skipping a school term (or two or three) for family vacations or other valuable life experiences. This way, if the only time that the parents could take a vacation is in September of Feb, they could do it, without the student being penalized for missing school. Getting back to the cost effectiveness thing, if our schools were open all years, with more flexible term attendance, we could actually build smaller schools, as all the students would never be attending a particular school term at the same time, and thus save taxpayer money.

 

[imagep]

oh, so we need to keep kids in prison("school) for longer where they will become increasingly stupid. Yup, that's the answer.

I've never heard of students becoming "more stupid" from attending school. Must be just something in your area.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

Most parents can't take all summer off for those yellowstone vacations, unless they are teachers. In my situation, there were only a few times of year that I could take off for a vacation, and only one of those weeks is during the summer.

A couple of times I pulled my kid out of school for a week or so for a family vacation.

In a lot of communities, our schools are among the most expensive and valuable assets that a community has. It's crazy to let them sit vacant all summer. It would be much more cost effective to have year round school, and allow students to progress at their own rate, and allow the possiblity of a student skipping a school term (or two or three) for family vacations or other valuable life experiences. This way, if the only time that the parents could take a vacation is in September of Feb, they could do it, without the student being penalized for missing school. Getting back to the cost effectiveness thing, if our schools were open all years, with more flexible term attendance, we could actually build smaller schools, as all the students would never be attending a particular school term at the same time, and thus save taxpayer money.

I could see a staggered school year to prevent buildings from sitting idle but remember year round teachers will demand more money.

 

[Mach]

We used to have a great summer school like that. The state cut the funding.

I sympathize, the public schools I pay for in my area also do not provide what I want, or what I think is practical given what I pay. The largely publically controlled mess of our education bureaucracy isn't providing what you want either. Meanwhile the private sector is meeting my needs, it's unfortunate many of those same principles could not be assisting with public school's ability to meet demand on a tight budget (and I don't mean for-profit).

 

[ARealConservative]

my kids do year round school, and I think it is great.

they get a longer 2 week spring break, a 2 week fall break, a longer Christmas break, and still a month off for summer.

the school year starts tomorrow btw

 

[imagep]

I could see a staggered school year to prevent buildings from sitting idle but remember year round teachers will demand more money.

thats perfectly fine, because we would actually either need fewer teachers (if they worked more), or we would end up with smaller classes - either way is a benefit to society.