This past week, my family and I were fortunate to spend 4 nights and 5 days in the Wisconsin Northwoods at my wife's childhood summer sleep-away camp with about 25 other families. This amazing family camp experience includes beach, boating, sports, zip lining, ropes courses, planned programming, 3-square meals a day, and a chance to unplug from technology for awhile. It is so much fun to have time to play father vs. son softball - of course the kids won; I think our family played about 3 hours of tennis; and you'll be shocked to know that Saturday night, there was an 8-way tie for first place in family Olympics - we shined on the strength of oldest's cross court soccer goals and youngest's bobbing for an Oreo cookie through whip cream. And that's just the stuff we did as a family! The other great thing about the family camp is that the camp provided a full staff in order to take the kids to kid programming multiple times each day, and even better - to provide coverage at night so the adults could socialize and play without the stress of babysitters and curfews for a few hours.
Wednesday night, we created art and drank Israeli wine. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Israeli wine?? Thursday, we drank local craft beer and sang Karaoke. It was probably the beer, but I have no idea how in the world I ended up singing Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax" in front of a room full of mostly strangers. My first Karaoke experience and I spontaneously sang harmony with a dude I just met, followed by me rocking a song about sex. So weird. And then Saturday night, my wife and I sat on the beach, under a beautifully clear, star-filled sky and talked about fleeting childhood summer experiences with a few other folks...ah yes, finally to the point of this post: you may or may not be aware of the changing world of education (depending on if you have any kids and/or their age) - but the childhood summers of our generations' past are truly endangered - and the consequences may be even worse than the loss of those experiences.
Think for a moment about how summer experiences have impacted your lives. I know that my life would be completely different without my summer overnight camp experiences and my summer travels to Eastern Europe and Israel. And though not everyone goes to summer camp or Israel, most kids do something during their summers - they work, they stretch the boundaries of their independence, they explore, they travel (solo or with family), and yes, sometimes they do seemingly nothing. But those experiences are formative - and they are in danger of going away if parents are unaware of the changing landscape of education.
I think the conversation began because the family camp ended today (Sunday) and my wife and I start our school year tomorrow. People were a bit shocked that we were beginning the year so early - and to find out that several schools in our area began their year as early as two weeks ago. The summer camp director emiritus is concerned that his camp, active for over 67 years, will become extinct. Some parents expressed concern that their children would not follow in their footsteps and experience their childhood camp. The question is - - Why?
We discussed three potential educational causes endangering childhood summers - which I'll simplify here. First of all, there is the stress of college. Have you seen what it costs to send a kid through four years of undergraduate college these days? Using the BIG10 as an example, the average out-of-state yearly tuition is approximately $28,000. By the time my kids are ready for college, I'd expect that number to double or triple. Gulp. Students and Parents are trying to figure out how to reduce college costs? The answer - Advanced Placement courses. In order to gain 'free' college credit in high school, teens are taking summer school to free up hours during the school year to take college credit courses. These classes not only take away valuable summer growth time, but they also over-program students during the year - severely cutting down on student free time to experience life. The advantage? Less college tuition, which is important; however, at a great cost.
The second endangering factor is high school athletics. Sports are so darned competitive these days that students are obsessed with extra practice and training. In addition, sports notoriety is so important for schools, that high school athletics have become serious time commitments - during the summer and during the year. I mean, I played varsity sports in high school, but summer sports camp and early practice were optional. These days, students absolutely cannot make sports teams if they do not participate in extra training and lengthy summer preparations (not to mention the disadvantage if you don't start travel clubs in elementary school). Kids are left with a choice - play the sport they love or take a step back and enjoy differentiated summer experiences. Most kids choose sports. Again, these limit the amount of free time the children have to experience life, to travel, to go to overnight summer camp, to work, etc.
The final and most significant factor that presents a danger to summer experiences is the changing school year schedule. Many of us grew up at a time when school started after or around Labor Day (the beginning of September). But as I said before, schools are starting earlier and earlier these days - with some starting almost a month earlier in the first week of August. Why? To accommodate high stakes testing and Advanced Placement courses. AP tests are in May. Schools that begin earlier get a leg up - with more days to prepare for the tests. This can help kids do well and gain college credit and eventually lower their overall tuition later in life, but it also shifts the whole yearly calendar. Other schools rationalize starting earlier to give their students a more collegiate experience - with first semester and finals ending before winter break. In order to do that, schools have to start earlier. In both cases, the variety of school starting times creates an uneven summer schedule - which in turn makes it difficult for camps and other programs to cater to all children. Eventually, many kids will not be able to attend summer experiences because of school schedules.
Some of you may think - what's the big deal? I want to save on college tuition and who cares about camp and when school starts. The hidden problem may be that the lack of diverse experiences is severely limiting students' ability to be literate and severely curtailing students' ability to critically think. So many times I hear folks lamenting the intelligence of today's kids - we laugh when talk shows make fun of the fact that they don't know who the Vice President is or on what coast California is located. We lament their lack of reading and communication skills. I see this a lot as a teacher and reading specialist. And frankly, there is a lot of research coming to light that points to students' lack of background knowledge, their lack of experiences, their lack of travel - which creates literacy and thinking problems. After all, if kids do not know about the world around them - socially and geographically, how can they master the more difficult aspects of communication, reading, and study.
It makes me sad that future generations of kids may not grow up to know summer camps, summer travels, and summer jobs as I did growing up. These experiences gave me friendships I cherish, knowledge beyond school walls, and a perspective I could not have gained had I stayed within the confines of my hometown and school my whole life. As a society, we should begin to question the direction administrators and government are taking our youth. How much should we value allowing our kids to be kids and experience life? Is it worth a year of college tuition to give them world wisdom and perspective? Is it worth a year a college tuition to allow kids time to go to camp, to travel, to gain job experience? If your answer is yes - then you should probably start paying attention to the direction your schools and the surrounding schools are moving with these initiatives. Many of Illinois' best schools are moving in these directions and the result could be the elimination of childhood summers as we know them.
And if your child is a struggling reader, consider how much experience and background knowledge they bring to their reading. They may struggle from a lack of prior knowledge, a lack of world knowledge, a lack of current events, etc. Consider giving them as much diversified reading and experience as possible. See if a more robust knowledge base can help improve their thinking and comprehension.
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