Summer Vacation, apparently for the birds

I know this article bit is mostly opinion, but it is the type of opinion that makes me want to smash something.
This bit shows the low opinions that most people have of our school system and our teachers. At the end of the article I was left with nothing more than the feeling that this writer is part of the mass that sees our schools as nothing more than babysitting system. Is it an inconvenience that school takes a break during the year? Yes, but most cities and states have created programs, at low or no cost, to help out the parents who were using the school as a babysitting service while they were at work. I have apathy for single parents, most of them ended up that way unintentionally. Either by divorce or death but, then we also have those that ended up there by their own stupidity. In my opinion, if you want your child to have a good start, start being a good parent. If you cannot afford to send your child to the fancy summer camps, then look into the summer programs that your city or state may offer. If anything it is only 2 1/2 months that we are really talking about.

Let’s abolish summer vacation

Allowing schools to close their doors every summer undermines their purpose, and widens the class gulf between rich and poor.

By The Week Staff | July 31, 2013

M

atthew YglesiasSlate.com

There are few more cherished American traditions than the summer vacation, said Matthew Yglesias. Many of us have nostalgic memories of long days chasing fireflies, selling lemonade, and going to sleepaway camp. But for underprivileged Americans and their kids, “summer vacation is a disaster.” Research has shown that the average student “loses” about a month of schooling over the summer break—but poorer students lose far more than wealthier kids. In fact, they “fall further behind each and every summer.” While wealthier parents spend thousands of dollars to send their kids off to enriching experiences at camp or on trips, working-class single moms are “put in a nearly impossible situation,” having to somehow watch and occupy their kids while holding down a job. Schools are a public service, and no other public service just “vanishes for months at a time.” Imagine the reaction if police, air traffic controllers, or bus drivers vacationed en masse. Education is just as important to society as law and order—and allowing schools to close their doors every summer “critically undermines” their purpose, and widens the class gulf between rich and poor. School “should happen all year round.”