William Larsen

Why should school start before Labor Day?

My wife and I took our son to his school open house last night. We were a bit late, but had a few minutes to speak with his teacher. We learned that school for NWAC will start I believe on August 11, 2008 next year.

I do not know about you, but are the school boards getting out of control? August is hot, why not start after labor day and get rid of all these half day, multiple day off for teacher work days/conferences and get out by the end of May?

It may be that I am getting older and my kids do call me an old-fart, but when I went to school at Village Elementary, we started after Labor Day and got out in mid May. This does a few things. First it is skirts the hottest days of the years and reduces air conditioning requirements. There was no air conditioning. Second, it gives families more leeway in when they take vacations. I am not sure what the requirements are at other companies, but at places I have worked, they tend to frown on more than 10% of the work force off at any given time. This means a span of 8 weeks will leave many unable to get their vacation in before school starts. A longer summer break with fewer half, one and two day breaks during the school year will allow young adults to work more during the summer than they would have.

Attending school is not the only learning we get growing up. Much of what we learn is learned at home doing non school activities. Many refer to this as common sense, creativity, resourcefulness and imagination.

posted by William Larsen @ 9:56 PM