RedWine
07-12-2006, 08:22 AM
Summer vacation, or summer break, is a vacation between school years in which students are off from school for 9 to 11 weeks (in the United States) or as little as a month in Australia. Most schools in the United States start summer vacation in June to September or, May to August. These dates vary depending on the location of the school district.
The time the children are out, the schools spend preparing the school for the next school year. They do this by: cleaning and waxing the floors; re-painting some of the walls and ordering new and updated text books. Sometimes administrators and sometimes the teacher or a group of teachers make a supply list. They either send it by mail or give it to the students on the first week of school. They do this to save money. Every list varies depending on the school grade level.
Most students do what they do on weekends during summer vacation; and they do fun stuff. However, many participate in programs such as: organized sports; summer camps; and summer schools. They may also travel to other places and/or prepare for the next school year. High school students sometimes visit college and university campuses.
Summer Vacation historically originated at a time when most of the USA's population lived in rural areas, and it was necessary for children to labor in the farms, often owned by their family, during the summer months.[citation needed]
In modern times, most Americans live in urban or suburban areas, and it would make much better sense to close the schools not during the summer, but during the winter, which would result in great financial savings from not having to heat the school buildings, and also would allow the students to go on vacation to warmer areas.
However, in many areas where the winter is mild, money is saved by avoiding the high air conditioning costs during the summer.
Recently many school districts have adopted year-round school years, although children still have between six weeks and two months of vacation during the summer.
The concept of summer vacation has been criticized because students tend to forget large amounts of information. This can partially be solved by year-round school years. Those supporting summer vacation note that children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood and should not be expected to work hard the whole year around. Even many adults in college need a break over the summer.
In the Southern hemisphere, notably Australia and New Zealand, the Summer season officially lasts from December to February, coinciding with the Christmas and New Year holidays. The dates of Australian school holidays are determined by each state's Department of Education, the Summer (also known as Christmas) holidays being the longest in duration. Typically Christmas or Summer holidays in Australia last approximately six weeks, usually from around December 20th (depending on school year, see below) to the last few days of January. While significantly shorter than the North American Summer vacation, Australian schools also break for two weeks at Easter, and in June and September, giving students and teachers a total of twelve weeks of annual holidays .In many public schools, years 10 through 12 will finish before December 20th, allowing time to complete exam marking and results. Year 10 commonly finishes at the end of November, Year 11 at the end of October, and year 12 also at the end of October after 3 weeks of end-of-year exams. This can bring the normal 12 weeks of vacation to 20 weeks of vacation. The intervening periods of school operation are called "School Terms", each term lasting approximately ten weeks. All Australian states have relatively similar holiday periods, but there is the ability for this to change around, such as for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth games, when the first term in Victorian schools was shortened to 6 weeks and the other subsequently extended to 12 weeks each allowing people to attend the events. Most private schools in Australia have up to four weeks additional holidays, due to their longer teaching hours during term.
The time the children are out, the schools spend preparing the school for the next school year. They do this by: cleaning and waxing the floors; re-painting some of the walls and ordering new and updated text books. Sometimes administrators and sometimes the teacher or a group of teachers make a supply list. They either send it by mail or give it to the students on the first week of school. They do this to save money. Every list varies depending on the school grade level.
Most students do what they do on weekends during summer vacation; and they do fun stuff. However, many participate in programs such as: organized sports; summer camps; and summer schools. They may also travel to other places and/or prepare for the next school year. High school students sometimes visit college and university campuses.
Summer Vacation historically originated at a time when most of the USA's population lived in rural areas, and it was necessary for children to labor in the farms, often owned by their family, during the summer months.[citation needed]
In modern times, most Americans live in urban or suburban areas, and it would make much better sense to close the schools not during the summer, but during the winter, which would result in great financial savings from not having to heat the school buildings, and also would allow the students to go on vacation to warmer areas.
However, in many areas where the winter is mild, money is saved by avoiding the high air conditioning costs during the summer.
Recently many school districts have adopted year-round school years, although children still have between six weeks and two months of vacation during the summer.
The concept of summer vacation has been criticized because students tend to forget large amounts of information. This can partially be solved by year-round school years. Those supporting summer vacation note that children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood and should not be expected to work hard the whole year around. Even many adults in college need a break over the summer.
In the Southern hemisphere, notably Australia and New Zealand, the Summer season officially lasts from December to February, coinciding with the Christmas and New Year holidays. The dates of Australian school holidays are determined by each state's Department of Education, the Summer (also known as Christmas) holidays being the longest in duration. Typically Christmas or Summer holidays in Australia last approximately six weeks, usually from around December 20th (depending on school year, see below) to the last few days of January. While significantly shorter than the North American Summer vacation, Australian schools also break for two weeks at Easter, and in June and September, giving students and teachers a total of twelve weeks of annual holidays .In many public schools, years 10 through 12 will finish before December 20th, allowing time to complete exam marking and results. Year 10 commonly finishes at the end of November, Year 11 at the end of October, and year 12 also at the end of October after 3 weeks of end-of-year exams. This can bring the normal 12 weeks of vacation to 20 weeks of vacation. The intervening periods of school operation are called "School Terms", each term lasting approximately ten weeks. All Australian states have relatively similar holiday periods, but there is the ability for this to change around, such as for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth games, when the first term in Victorian schools was shortened to 6 weeks and the other subsequently extended to 12 weeks each allowing people to attend the events. Most private schools in Australia have up to four weeks additional holidays, due to their longer teaching hours during term.