Already Back to School? It’s Still Summer!

Where I come from, the first day of school is always on the Tuesday following Labor Day.  Taking in the Labor Day back-to-school sales is an annual ritual, in preparation for that first day of the new school year. Leaves have begun to turn in to hues of yellows and browns. A few of them are already dancing their way down to the earth beneath them. A sweater or jacket is usually necessary and one can smell bonfires and football in the air.

Here in the South, school began in most places on August 8 this school year. This is pretty much the same date as in previous years. Ninety degree weather makes it tough to decide what one should wear on that first day of school. Flip flops and open toed shoes are not allowed. Not all school buses are equipped with working air conditioning. A bus can be crowded enough without the added heat of summer.

Wikipedia

Northern states begin their school years earlier than those in states such as Oregon and California, due to the fact that they get tons of snow which shuts down their schools for weeks at a time. In order to get all of the required days in during the school year, they sometimes choose to start early or end later in June.

The South doesn’t get the snow like other regions do, so no real need to worry about allowing for snow days. I have learned that this tradition of beginning the school year in early August stems from years in the past when children actually worked in the cotton fields. Of course this was before the onset of modernized machinery which does the job for you. Schools would actually shut down for a couple of weeks so children could work alongside their parents picking cotton in the cotton fields. In order to meet the required number of days of attendance, school began in early August.

Fast forward to the present year, 2009. Children are no longer working in those cotton fields and neither are their parents. Machinery does it all, with perhaps one or 2 actual persons at the controls. Beginning school while it is still summer is asking for children with short attention spans. Even as adults, we don’t perform as well in the heat.

It’s time to take a look at ”rules” that are no longer necessary and in fact, cause more stress on children than they already have in this fast and busy world. What’s wrong with allowing our kids a few more summer days, running through sprinklers, jumping rope and making memories down at the pond? After all, aren’t we trying to instill healthy habits in these kids?  Perhaps they would sit in their seats a bit better if we waited until after Labor Day to return them to the classroom, when it truly is time for back-to-school, football games and bonfires fill the Autumn air.