Why school summer holidays are too long

By A.R.

THE adults walking out of the primary school in the Welsh town of Barry look visibly relieved. They have just dropped their children off at a summer programme, which provides meals and activities for the day. Mere days into the six-week summer holidays, these parents say they are already struggling to keep their children entertained, and wish the break were shorter. Many experts would agree, arguing that the long break harms children. Why is it that they believe the summer holidays are too long, and what should be done instead?

The vast majority of the world’s school calendars have long summer holidays, their length ranging from three weeks in South Korea to three months in America, Italy and Turkey. The holidays’ 19th-century origins are hazy. They are popularly believed to be a hangover from the West’s agrarian past, when families needed their children’s help in the fields during the summer, though many historians think the evidence for this is thin. In the popular imagination, school summer holidays conjure up a picture of carefree youthful exploration. But for many children and their families, the reality is very different.