I know, I sound like an old fart, but how is making kids go back to school in the middle of summer going to make us any more competitive in the world?  Yes I know there’s a whole lot more to cram into their little heads since we were kids, but is this working?  Are kids getting smarter, or just more pressured by adults?  When do teachers get a break to regroup?

We used to look forward to our summer vacations, and needed them to unwind.  So did teachers.  Even parents, who could afford it.  I guess with the so-called middle class endangered, parents need to unload their kids on the system more so as to work longer and harder.  But look how well extending the school year is working for us so far–not.  If anything, we’re falling farther behind the world.  It’s not healthy or natural.

I suppose summer vacation is a relatively recent western construct in world history, and is doomed to obsolescence.  Future generations will see it as a quaint custom of bygone days, back when people could afford to stop, take a breather, unwind.  Soon we’ll be back to a post-“Metropolis” world, just cogs in a global rat-race.  Yeah, I’m just a little skeptical about this trend.

I know, it’s complicated.  It’s hard on everyone, trying to survive and keep up.  It’s hard for parents to bring kids into this reality.  It’s hard for kids to even go to college anymore, or afford it.  It’s hard for conscientious teachers to inject a little creativity into an imposed curriculum that doesn’t allow for imagination, thinking skills, life skills, the arts, or the need to breathe.

I feel for everyone involved.  Simpler times are over and gone.  The country seems to be going a little crazy, and it’s all we can do to just find a way to survive and keep our families afloat.  (Literally, with all the extreme record-setting flooding destroying whole towns!)  The very seasons themselves, and our natural internal clocks, are being altered and reset, and we have to adapt or go extinct.  Or get “creative”.

I’ll leave it there, for now.