The Summer Escape

Most teachers are as excited as their students about the end of the school year. After 36 weeks of school and an average of 53 hours per week , teachers are ready for a break. But I can’t help but think that the escape that summer vacation provides might be working against schools, and the students and teachers who might otherwise rally for what needs to be changed.

Jay Mathews makes this point by describing a decade-old example of an unconventional approach to change. Basically, the story is a teacher training students to call en masse (albeit politely) to complain to an adminstrator and ultimately affect change. Mathews seems convinced that sometimes teachers and students just need to let their anger show.

Normally, I would focus on the outcome of this effort, both in terms of the administration's response and on the civil disobediance lesson imparted to the students. But right now this strategy resonates with me, mostly because of an email I received earlier in the week from a friend who teaches 3rd grade in Detroit. She’s “elated” that the year is almost done and she can “escape” from her school and the district’s “insane policies”. I understand her need for a break. She teaches in one of those schools that no one really wants to teach in, and she’s been there longer than most (just finishing up her 5th year). She loves teaching, she reminds me, but “by the end of March, I just surrender because I know I can hang on for ten more weeks…Then I can start fresh in the fall.”

There are a lot of teachers and students organizing for change, but I'm curious to know if these efforts diminish as we near June each year. Or if some cries for change just flicker out as teachers and students realize that school's out in just 10, 5, or 2 weeks. I don't believe it is the teachers' responsibility to change schools, but I know they play an undeniably important role and may make the difference. What would change if the school year were restructured, continuing year-round with smaller breaks along the way, avoiding the “surrender” that seems to occur toward the end of the year? Of course, it's possible that teachers might burn out and quit altogether, but perhaps they might be motivated to keep up a consistent stream of teaching and learning, and to push the leadership to make fundamentally important changes.

Right now, there are more than 3 million teachers who are finishing up and preparing for summer school and for some much-needed time off. Come fall, they will be rested and ready for a new year. Unfortunately, they will face many of the same problems.