History Summer Vacation

Software products are analogous to living organisms in the sense that they evolve over time, constantly going through changes that can result from any combination of design, marketing or business influences. After a while, they even take on lives of their own, changing on an organic and seemingly haphazard basis.

Did you know that during the summer vacation from July, kids in the United States didn’t go to school? This only occurred from 1852 until 1917. During this time all children (of working age) in America, were not required to attend any school. In fact, U.S. government officials rallied against education and pushed for the removal of books from schools, causing reading rates to drop dramatically.

Summer vacation allows the time to reflect upon all that has happened during the school year, and it always surprises me how quickly the year progresses. For example, this will be my eighth summer, and heading into my sophomore year of high school. Would tell a friend picking up where they left off. This summer we have the road trip of a lifetime planned, one that will take us across the entire country and, combined with local stops along the way, should give us plenty of opportunities to learn more about American history than we ever thought possible.

History Summer Vacation

The History of Kids’ Favorite Season

For many students, September means the sad end to summer vacation. Related LinksAlmanac: EducationSchool EnrollmentPro year round school: National Education Commission on Time and LearningAnti year round school: Stop Year-Round School Citizen’s GroupPro longer family vacations: Shorter Work-Time GroupAnti long drives: Sprawl Resources GuideUrban Ecology

Why does the American school year start in September and end in June? It’s something of a mystery. Did children once “bring in the harvest” on the family farm all summer in the distant rural past?

Historians at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum that recreates an 1830s New England farming village, say not. According to the web site and schoolmistress there, farm children went to school from December to March and from mid-May to August. Adults and children alike helped with planting and harvesting in the spring and fall.

Working Families: Then and Now

Urban schools in the 1800s also lacked the long summer vacation modern Americans take for granted. Like working families today, new immigrant families needed a safe and affordable place for children to stay while parents worked. In large cities, children of parents who worked in factories, shops, or mills learned English and other subjects during an 11-month school year.

Vacations Around the World

Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America either. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America. While just sitting in a classroom longer does not necessarily ensure children will learn more, many American teachers spend weeks every fall just reminding kids of what they forgot over the summer.

A Round of Vacations

Some teachers, principals, parents, and children believe strongly that a three-month summer vacation hurts children, fragments education, and wastes tax money. Since the early 1900s, school districts around the country have offered a longer school year or a school calendar of multiple short terms interspersed with many short vacations. Other parents feel just as strongly that short school years and long summer vacations are essential to growing up.

One popular alternative calendar is the “45-15” type, by which nine-week terms alternate with three-week vacations throughout the year. Kids start school in “waves”, rather than all on the same day. In this system, one group is always on vacation during any given week. Schools are less crowded, with fewer students on campus at once, but still serve the same number of children.

What Worked, What Didn’t

Successful programs have coordinated the school calendar with the schedules of employers, recreation, and child care providers. The scheduling for “45-15” can be complicated, but some school districts have flourished with multiple short vacations spread throughout the year.

Much less popular historically has been a system that keeps the long vacation, but cycles it through the calendar year. Many parents shivered at the thought of having their children home for three months in the middle of winter. The prospect of frigid vacations effectively froze this option out of most school districts.

Ladies of Leisure and Busy Families

Wealthy ladies of the last century were often sent off, together with their children and servants, to summer homes for months at a time. They were free to take lengthy vacations without worrying about after school programs or days off from work.

Most modern American fathers and mothers work year round and scramble to find fun, safe, affordable programs during summer vacations, winter vacations, spring vacations, snow days, and the seemingly endless parade of holidays that schools take but employers do not.

A Scrap Bag of Time

Often, the schedules of schools, day camps, child care, and after school programs are not coordinated with each other, and don’t match the average work day or year either. Parents can end up with a year-round job that ends at 6:00, an after school program that ends at 5:45, and an hour drive between the two. Families can face hours every day and weeks every year with few safe places for their kids to go. Some families would welcome a shorter school vacation. Others would prefer the long vacations available to whole families in European countries.

The concept of summer vacation has always been a debated topic around the world, but is particularly contentious in the United States with older generations questioning the rationale behind such an ‘unnecessary’ break. It’s safe to say however, that summer vacation, just like daylight savings time, is going to be around for a very long time.

So what is summer vacation?
Summer vacation, which can be either referred to as summer holiday or summer break is a school holiday that occurs in the summer both in the United States and in other countries around the world. Summer break is usually the longest break in the school year lasting usually for a period of 6 to 14 weeks, depending on the country.

Origin of summer vacation
There have been a lot of myths and oral tradition concerning the origin of summer vacation. Some of these myths contend that summer vacation or summer holiday originated as a result of the school calendar originating from the Agrarian family calendar. Since during the early settlement of the United States, the nation was made up primarily of farmers. According to this myth, it was believed that school kids took a break during summer to help their parents in their fields and farms. As exciting this story may sound, it is incorrect and had nothing to do with kids sweating off labor hours in the farm all in the name of tilling the soil. Before the civil war, school kids never took a break from school during summer. Looking back at the history of the American summer breaks we found that in the year 1842, school kids in the city of Detroit had an academic year that ran for 260 days.

The origin of summer vacation in the US had a lot to do with the rising middle and upper class in American society. During the summer period, most wealthy and affluent families took all excuses to escape from the hot and harsh summer weather with their kids to the cool countryside. This affected the school attendance and learning progress since school attendance wasn’t mandatory at that time. As this continued, legislators and labor union advocates argued for counterbalancing a more regulated summer holiday/break for school kids. They were all agreed that the idea of learning year-round was not ideal for kids since the brain is a muscle which needed to be rested.

As time went by, summer holiday became a norm and fully instituted with various districts cutting out about 40- 60 days off the school year calendar to accommodate this newly conceived summer break. Gradually, summer holidays became a sort of business for business folks who took advantage of this summer break to turn it into a business industry and venture.

Why is it called vacation in the USA and holiday in the UK?
English is a language that originated from the West Germanic dialect. The word holiday was taken from the German language term for the haligdæg – holy day; back in that time, the only leisure time possible was on a Holy Day, so it makes sense why the British use the word holiday.

In the UK “going on holiday” means taking time off, what Americans call “going on vacation”. An actual national/religious holiday is not required.

To an American, holiday means a set time or day; days off that the administration team has seen fit to give (e.g. Christmas or New Year’s Day ). It’s a government dictated holiday away from work.

Examples:

•         Brit: Jenny and I are going away on a holiday.
•         American: Jenny and I are going away for the holidays.

•         Brit: We might go on a holiday.
•         American: We might go on a vacation.

•         Brit: I’m going on holiday to Spain during the Christmas holidays.
•         American: I’m going on a vacation to Spain during Christmas holidays.

Nowadays summer vacation is a time for families to experience a time of fun, get to visit interesting tourist attractions within and outside their countries. So no matter what word you use to represent your time off, Ginger wishes you and your family  enjoyable and memorable one!