[Seasons: Summer XXI]
Ironically "summer break" begins in the spring and ends long before fall arrives. For school age youth, “summer" is not so much a reference to the season that falls between the solstice in June and the equinox in September, summer is the the “season” without classes and exams. Summer is imposed on the calendar rather than dictated by it.
Originally, summer break from school was not a gift of youthful freedom. Quite the opposite. It was dictated by the seasonal needs on the farm. Kidding goats and planting potatoes in the late spring and harvesting hay and corn in the late summer, for example, were partly the responsibility of children. There was no time for school.
What was once a season of manual labor has become a time free from school. What’s the tradeoff?
We’ve given our children no less schooling, per se, but we’ve also given them a lot less work, which amounts to more time devoid of their contribution to the wellbeing of the family, home, and land.
What’s the implicit message of the summer “season” for children? On the surface it might be, “You are so valuable, you deserve more leisure time.” But more deeply, we may be saying, “You have no measurable contribution; you are a pure consumer; do as you wish.”
That’s not freedom; it’s a unique kind of bondage.
