UNCOMMON KNOWLED GE FO R MODERN TIME S
SUMMER VACATION: A HISTORY LESSON
P R O P S T Y L I N G BY J O J O L I
HOW DID THIS multimonth reprieve from pencils, books, and dirty looks come to be? Conventional wisdom points to the agricultural calendar. In the summer, American kids were needed to work the farm. But that’s not historically accurate. In the early 19th century, rural students attended class during the winter and summer. But by the late 1800s, says Kenneth Gold, the author of School’s In: The History of Summer Education in American Public Schools, “pervasive medical theories claimed too much school could put a child’s health at stake.” So school reformers pushed for a standardized calendar with summers off. This lined up with other forces, like well-to-do families escaping in the hot months. According to Gold, an 1872 Massachusetts Teacher article in support of the break said overtaxed kids were growing up “puny, lank, and pallid.” Now pallidness is reserved for the post-graduates.
TIRED OF HEARING “I’M BORED”?
Find a list of 50 fun activities for the whole family at realsimple. com/summeractivities.
Written by Andra Chantim Photograph by Aaron Dyer
JUNE 2015
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REALSIMPLE.COM
