Happy Memorial Day and Hello, summer

Posted 5/29/2023

Memorial Day, the holiday that occurs today is actually to honor those who have died in service to our country, particularly those who died in combat. However, it is best known as the unofficial official beginning of summer. Graduations, including that of my niece from high school, are now behind us and children are out of school. When should they go back to school? The beginning of the school year used to be the day after Labor Day. Now it is before Labor Day but generally in late August.

Actually, it is Independence Day (aka, the Fourth of July) not Labor Day that should be the other bookend of summer vacation for kids.

The United States has one of the shortest school years in the industrialized world. Not coincidentally, our nation lags behind most of these countries in reading, math, and science. This was a concern in the 1980’s when I was in high school. Back then, the Japanese were leaving us in the dust. A lot of time has passed since then and efforts to address this gap were made with some progress. But one core problem still remains. Asian countries emphasize academics and scholarship more than Western countries such as the United States. A longer school year with slightly longer breaks during it, would appropriately prioritize education over vacation.

Prioritizing academics is actually a theme in one of my upcoming fiction books.

Why would anyone want to be on vacation in that latter part of the summer that begins after the Fourth anyway? It is too hot to do anything outside. At least that is the case in the Deep South where I live and where the name Dog Days of Summer is appropriate for this time of year because I sweat like a dog (although the name is actually related to the visibility of a star nicknamed the Dog Star). Being driven indoors by heat and humidity, it would be easier for children to concentrate on schoolwork without being tempted to go outside and play.

One weakness in my argument is that this piece is accessible online worldwide and summer may be pleasant all three months where you live. But whenever the weather is miserable, why would you as a child want to be out of school at that time? Anyone who has an answer to that question at that time is welcome to respond, even if your response is “my kids are better off playing video games and using social media inside the house instead of outside playing.”