FEATURES
Extending
The Educational Experience
Extending the educational experience for students is not a new concept or concern brought on by pandemic-related school closures. The role of summer learning has followed the complex rhythm of current trends set by society for as long as its existence. Summer break has become a season to focus on popular movements throughout history.
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n the 19th century, a well-ordered social system depended on a person's relationship with the land and established the agrarian tradition on principles of soil conservation, crop husbandry, and farm management. This agrarian society, a society that depended on agriculture as its primary means for support, is usually credited as the earliest influence on the current school calendar since children supplied essential labor on the family farms. School calendars and summer vacation have a far more complex history than that, and some argue it had nothing to do with helping out on the family farm. In the past, agrarian needs and economic needs might have encouraged school systems to implement breaks, but historian Kenneth Gold thinks the current summer vacation was designed more intentionally. The school year was made as long and as open as possible at the turn of the 19th century because it was difficult (and expensive) to mandate attendance. Schools with longer calendars were often considered better schools and perceived as more effective by the general public. This system came under scrutiny and criticism as stifling heat and epidem-
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ics led to high absentee rates making the summer months extremely hot and unhealthy. When tuberculosis plagued the United States, public health campaigners argued that it was unhealthy for kids to be cooped up in classrooms and pushed for as much outdoor play and instruction as possible. Additionally, there was emerging research that stressed the benefits of fresh air and emphasized the need for kids to play and exercise outdoors as essential for development. As summer approached, affluent families began taking their children out into the countryside for a cool respite from the heat. Summer months became notorious for high absenteeism, and school reformers pushed to suspend classes during the summer in order to make the school calendar more consistent across rural and urban areas. Disease, heat, and vacations all influenced summer's special status on the calendar without much (if any) thought given to student achievement. We know today that the absence of a conversation around academic achievement in the decisions that shaped the modern school calendar played a role in the phenomenon researchers call the "summer slide".
