IN THE ARENA

The Case Against Summer Vacation

By BRIDGET ANSEL

July 14, 2014

ummer is upon us, and with the warmer days comes a hearty dose of

American nostalgia. We still romanticize this most cherished of all seasons as

a time of lingering twilight, barbecues and new romance. Our pull-yourselfup-by-your-bootstrap-culture even accepts summers carefree laziness, clinging to
the bygone days of childhood when we would wake up early to meet friends in order
to do, well absolutely nothing.
Those times were undoubtedly blissful, which is why my 10-year-old self would be
appalled at what I am about to argue: Summer vacation is bad for kids and for
Americas economic future. We need to end it or at the very least provide
stimulating summer enrichment for those who cant afford it.
The nine-month, 180-day school year is not a relic of our agrarian past as many
wrongly assume but rather the legacy of a bygone era when spending hours inside
a sweltering, air-conditioning-free classroom (or office, for that matter) was
implausible. Although most industries eliminated the summer furlough with the

advent of temperature-controlled buildings, school boards have retained schedules

that are stuck in the past, with serious consequences for Americas children.
Once school is out for the summer, the opportunity for children to engage in
educational activities of any kind decreases. Studies show that, on average, students
lose about a months worth of instruction, as measured by standardized test scores.
But not everyone is average and, as a 2011 RAND Corp. report finds, summer
learning loss disproportionately affects poor students, who already begin school
behind their more affluent classmates. Research shows that any high-quality
summer program that keeps children engaged whether that is a traditional camp,
summer school or even frequent trips to the museum can mitigate summer
learning loss.
The problem is, not everyone can afford to send their kids to a fancy summer
program. That means low-income children (exactly the children that could benefit
most from such programs) cannot afford to participate. Meanwhile, in a world in
which most children grow up in a household without a full-time caregiver, lowincome parents not only struggle to find full-time care but also must divert large a
large fraction of their limited salaries to pay for it.
Worst of all, this loss is cumulative, with serious consequences as the achievement
gap widens every summer. Karl Alexander, a Johns Hopkins University sociologist,
tracked 650 children in the Baltimore public schools, recording their scores on the
California Achievement Test in June and again in September, after summer break
had ended. Alexander found that the poorest kids outlearn their wealthier peers in
terms of knowledge gained during the academic year, but during the summer
months they fall further behind. In contrast, the wealthier children, aided by a home
full of books, organized summer camps and concerted cultivation-type parenting,
continue to develop their skills.
BridgetAnselisspecialassistantattheWashingtonCenterforEquitableGrowth,a
newresearchcenterandgrantmakingorganizationdedicatedtoexamining
whetherandhowstructuralchangesintheU.S.economy,particularlyrelatedto
economicinequality,affecteconomicgrowth.Thisarticlewasadaptedfromablog
postonthecenterswebsite.

Additional credits:
Lead image by AP Photo.