I was wondering why I was already getting back-to-school advertising in July.  I checked the calendars and discovered that some kids in this area have to go back to school as early as August 15!!  That’s insane.

Longer school years don’t improve American education, as has been clearly demonstrated.  If anything, it sets it back, as kids have even fewer breaks, on top of little to no outdoor recess.  It’s not good for developing mental and physical health, which affects learning.

I realize I’m from a different place and time, where we’d be smack in the middle of vacations and summer camps at that point in August.  I get that an earlier, longer school year enables parents to work longer and harder in this difficult economy.  I’m aware that America ranks pretty low on the world scale, and midwestern education levels in particular are disturbingly inadequate.  They don’t even require foreign languages around here, and grammar is atrocious, extended years or not.

Still.  I can’t imagine having to sit in sweltering classrooms in August, other than in summer school for part of the day.  It sounds like Gitmo or something.  Give kids a break.  Obviously it’s not working, anyway, if the kids I see around here are any indication.  They’ll be lucky if they even graduate high school, and find a job.

It’s been so long since I told time by the school year, I have to be reminded it’s almost that time  already, which is fine, because school used to fill me with dread and foreboding.  And that was with over two months of summer vacation, and plenty of other breaks.  Four schools later, I had had enough.  And that was with no preschool.  For some people, it’s several more institutions before they’re finally free to struggle to find meaningful, or any, employment.  Often, all that schooling and expense end up for naught.

Quality trumps quantity any day, in this case.  But corrupt political leaders trump consistent quality in education, so schools have to resort to quantity to try to compensate.  It’s a vicious circle, because poorly educated voters then vote for someone like trump, our truant delinquent-in-chief.

I feel bad for kids.  For many, schools are like juvie detention centers, with not much to show for all their time.  Maybe summer community service programs would be more productive and educational.  Or even a new Civilian Conservation Corps for young adults to improve state parks and learn useful skills in the process.  But what do I know?  I’m just a casualty of the system myself.