We are more
than half way through our holiday which allowed students to respite from the
stresses and struggles of the classroom. Within a few weeks our students will
resume classes, hopefully re-energised and rejuvenated to face the books.
Long school holidays help students clear their heads, relax a
little and stretch their brains in different ways.
However, for decades, there has been a lot of debate among
teachers, parents, and policymakers around the world, on how long a school
break should be.
Traditionally, schooling schedules have long been based more on
cultural patterns than on efficient education strategies. For instance, in
Iceland it was traditionally timed to allow children to help out with harvest. Other
countries have long summer vacations because it is simply too hot to study. In
other areas where religion plays an important role in the holiday season, the
religion calendar then commands the break, so that students can have ample time
to partake in the rituals and traditions of seasonal holidays. This is the case
with Italy and the Balkans where school children and teachers enjoy some of the
longest summer holidays on the planet.
There are some obvious advantages to a vacation that lasts longer.
Families who live a long distance from relatives are able to travel together,
sometimes across the ocean, in order to connect with their loved ones. From an
educational standpoint, a child that is able to experience another culture can
gain valuable language, history, and social skills. The students get to
participate in activities that would be difficult to do during a regular school
term.
On the other
hand, critical academic skills need daily repetition which a modern parent may
not be able to carry out at home. For example, students learning to read must
practice these skills consistently or the teacher will have to reteach some of
the concepts if they stay long before refreshing. The same goes for foreign
languages and mathematics facts.
Unlike before, a long study break is more likely to cause students
to forget what they have been learning. With the movies and video games, they
slip away from study habits and become languid from so much time not working.
Consequently, long school holiday can be either constructive or
destructive to our students! But I am still enjoying a long holiday.
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