The Americans and the Scots seem to have got their summer holidays right. The former break up in June for two months, the latter break up at the beginning of July to return in the middle of August. Even the Australians follow the same pattern (end of December until beginning of February – work it out.) This means time off from school is concentrated at the best time of the year: more sunshine, longer days, less rainfall…
And what do the Brits do? Children suffer at school when the days are long, the weather is good and the temperature is high. And as soon as term’s ended these poor kids are turfed out to holiday in an environment of continuous cloud, heavy rain, shorter days, cool mornings and evenings, nights too cold to go camping in – just at a time when the year is turning back into autumn. Why is this?
I know it’s a throwback from during WWII when everyone, children included, were needed to help bring in the harvest. This busy time of year was usually a race against time and the weather to bring in the results of the growing season, especially when the harvest machinery was pretty basic, inefficient and required as much hands-on as could be found.
But today it is different. There are huge combine harvesters that do the job much more efficiently. Also, fields are sown earlier to spread the harvest more evenly throughout the growing season.
And the weather is changing. This is the third August we have had with lousy weather. Gone are the sultry days of the 1970s when August ‘scorched’ in the high 70s, or even the 1980s in the low 80s. Say hello to our highest temperatures closer to the solstice, lowering as the sun dips towards the equinox. The world is changing, but not the school holidays.
Isn’t it time that the educational powers that be woke up to the 21st century and changed the school year to reflect the weather patterns of our new millennium?
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