<p>LOL! Thoughts??</p>
<p>:eek:</p>
<p>What next?</p>
<p>hahahaha....with stunning logic, though</p>
<p>I have to agree with his argument.</p>
<p>wow that is so sad</p>
<p>To add to this, it was apparently an HONORS course. One would think that he would have asked the guidance counselor if the course required work over the summer as some honors courses do at some schools.</p>
<p>Now there's a clipping you'll want to send with your application.</p>
<p>Our school board is considering banning all homework over the summer as well as all extended breaks(ie chrismas, spring break, four day weekends). They are saying that it can be OFFERED but only for extra credit and the material will not be held against the kids who don't do it. Their point is that there are so many other educational opportunities during the summer(ie camps, jobs, personal exploration, etc) and summer homework interferes. Currently we've got quite a bit of reading, writing, and projects for all honors and AP level language, science, and history courses. </p>
<p>...I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think I'm for summer reading... it keeps the mind going.</p>
<p>Those who need and want to keep their minds going don't need to be forced to read. This just the further erosion of the American work ethic. No wonder everyone is threatened with oursourcing.</p>
<p>Our school district assigns homework over the summer for most high school courses.
There is much more for honors and AP courses. Most kids try to cram the work in the last few weeks before the start of school. One year I went to the Curriculum Committee and complained about the amount of summer homework; the next summer I saw a decrease -- but figured the teachers just assigned more work in Sept. That was
over 5 years ago. I understand the need for summer reading and some review but
at least they did away with short History research papers.</p>
<p>Out on the left coast, which starts school after Labor Day (and ends in late June -- don't ask) we have ~one month less of school time prior to the AP testing cycle, than many school districts east of the Sierras. Since AP tests are in early May, Cal kids have absolutely no choice but to begin AP classwork over the summer, but, that's fully explained to them when they sign up for the class.</p>
<p>Ah, the joys of private schools...they can assign as much work as they want.
But luckily, we don't really get homework over any breaks. We have summer reading (1 required book, 4 of your choice) but a lot of people don't do it.</p>
<p>On the one hand, there is no real harm of having to do some work during the summer. On the other hand, if all summer assignments were to be matched by mandatory extensive and detailed grading by the teachers, the practice would take a nosedive. </p>
<p>All in all, the requirement for some summer work is pretty benign. That said, I am vehemently opposed to the growing practice by middle and high school coaches to schedule "voluntary" camps and training sessions well after school ended or started. Such camps are used to get a running start for the athletic season and allow the premature formation of JV or varsity teams. For some sports, I has reached such epic proportions that some families are afraid to leave town for a single weekend. One of the most egregious examples was in Midland-Odessa where the football coaches rented closed warehouses to hide their illegal practices from prying eyes. </p>
<p>My take is that the schools ought to concentrate on making their average 180 days of schooling better rather than infringe on the off days and impose on families with more questionable decisions. If the schools are so keen on summer assignments, why don't they schedule all faculty conferences' days during the summer instead of during the school year? What do they say about the gander and the goose?</p>
<p>omg are you kidding me... how does that kid expect to succeed if he does not stay academically engaged over the summer</p>
<p>every summer for the past 5 years I have either taken a college course, attended somewhat intellectual program of some sort or volunteered. often, a combination of all 3 summer should not be 12 weeks of watching the tv</p>
<p>Not everyone is like you (nor the majority of the hardworking motivated kids on CC) Plus, those things you've done in the summer were voluntary, and he's arguing that nothing should be required. I really doubt he had that much work though so it all seems very silly.</p>
<p>Are you being sarcastic, sempitern? If you are, then you just made me feel pretty disadvantaged! My summers growing up were spent reading and playing baseball (up through the end of july)...and the past two were spent working as an intern at a local law firm. Oh, and BTW, a little TV isn't so bad...and I'm saying that from the point of view of someone who isn't exactly an academic lightweight...</p>
<p>"If the schools are so keen on summer assignments, why don't they schedule all faculty conferences' days during the summer instead of during the school year?"</p>
<p>From a mom whose kid had a day of this week for faculty related meetings, I agree!
However, my kids have never had a hefty summer workload...only light reading assignments. As far as summer assignments go, I wouldn't appreciate it. It's up to the parents to nourish minds in the summer months. Let us have our time, please.</p>
<p>"every summer for the past 5 years I have either taken a college course, attended somewhat intellectual program of some sort or volunteered"</p>
<p>and how would you like it if you couldn't do those things because you were stuck in the house doing math problems assigned by a teacher you haven't seen in 60 days? That's the whole point..</p>
<p>Bluealien01 does make a good point about the Honors courses. It's not unusual for honor students to be assigned work in the summer to complement their studies in the school year. For some schools this is done to make up for their poor curriculum while other schools which are more rigorous tend to do this to prepare students for the intense workload they will encounter in the school year. In addition, assigning work in the summer allows more material to be covered in the school year which, in foresight, will help the students. </p>
<p>BTW, most schools assign summer readings. Should summer readings be banned, too?
What about summer school? What about some schools which open all-year round? </p>
<p>I don't believe that schools should go overload in assigning work in the summer. The school year is already tiring enough without adding more work. However, most schools don't overload in assigning work. Personally, after the first few weeks summer becomes boring and my brain goes on off, having a REASONABLE amount of work to do won't kill me and might help me.</p>
<p>I always thought of summer as the time when I could enjoy greater intellectual and social growth by reading what I found at the library, and playing with friends in the neighborhood. I could never see much benefit in going back to school at the end of the summer. A person with genuine curiosity never stops learning, and doesn't need a grade to be motivated to learn. A person without curiosity will always look for another excuse to shirk learning--it's too bad schools produce kids like that. </p>
<p>For what it's worth, my son had a summer assignment to learn several of the basic facts about statistics for his accelerated math course. That did get quizzed on on the first class meeting of this school year, thus counting (a little) for his course grade. Big deal. He did a lot of more challenging math in the summer for NO grade.</p>