Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for July 25, 2010

I called it Bliss.

Lucy understands her so well that it’s almost scary. By the way Bliss is a different cartoon entirely.

http://www.gocomics.com/bliss

It’s too bad we can’t have a three-month vacation, as adults, to do the same thing about work!

Yeah, but did you notice that gradually they’re taking away summer vacation? Soon there will be less than a month off. Some places already do it that way.

Been reading TIME have we, Dark? Don’t forget that this is true, that the kids end up forgetting a ton in that time off.

But you forget that summer vacation was a rural must since kids HAD to help with the harvesting in the ancient days of the 20th century. It was always a trade off in rural society.

I don’t believe they are planning to replace summer vacation (or at least entirely). The school curriculums I’ve seen that have year-round schooling just spread out the breaks between quarters. So you still get 2-3 weeks off between, but not nearly enough time to go forget everything.

Still plenty of time for summer camp :) Come to think of it I don’t remember any camps that lasted longer than 2 weeks anyway when I was a kid.

I’ve been out of school for 24 years, and even then the idea of no summer vacation from school gives me cold sweats….

Uh, what’s summer camp?

Shudder, the idea of being happy at FORGETTING makes me go cold! I know this is ironic and Danae is the character of the “dark side” but we do have a problem with general education. We need to restore(?) or build a respect for education that I do not sense as being currently present. Too many parents look at school as daycare and forget that they have higher responsibility than anyone else for education!

Eh, If I was Danae I wouldn’t forgetting everything in school since I will most likely have to replace that grade in school.

I think that U.S. employers ought to take the example of many foreign companies that give their employees up to six weeks of vacation. Studies have shown that employees actually perform better when given more of a break from work.

Year round school is a great idea, having 2 - 3 week breaks spread across the year gives the students and teachers time to relax and return refreshed. Teachers don’t like the idea of missing out on summer jobs to augment their pay though, and the vacation industry doesn’t like the idea of shorter times. But for educational purposes it is a fantastic idea and long overdue.

cleokaya, you actually expect people in the US to use furrin’ socialist pinko non-‘Merican ideas like long vacations? What kind of patriot are you anyway? Next thing you know, you’ll be agitatin’ for paternity leave and a full public option, and any idjit knows that leads to those goolags!

……..And this concludes the story about the Ekert!

Students and teachers need to get away from each other for a couple of months. They just do. Kids especially need to have a long period of time to explore life on their own in a non-structured way. They many times discover something that really fires them up, and gives them a reason to get an education. Boredom is the father of invention….

Ignorance is bliss, even if it takes some forgetfulness to achieve. I know I feel much better after I’ve forgotten the list of things I was supposed to do around the house :)

There is lots of learning to be done outside of the school room. Summer is a great time to learn some biology, by spending time in the woods or in the garden. Lots of possibilities.

An empty brain is a happy brain.

I’VE BEEN RETIRED FOR 22YEARS AND HAVE FOUND PLENTY OF THINGS TO DO TO KEEP FROM GETTING BORED,,AND IF I HADEN’T KEPT BUSY DOING SOMETHING I WOULD PROBIBLY BE DEAD NOW!

Six week vacation might benefit some companies. No payroll would help their bottom line. Oh, you mean paid vacation. Will this be paid by decreased wages or benefits?. I think most people understand the mechanics behind paternity, If they still decide to burden the earth with another human, I think they should be allowed to take up to 3 months unpaid leave. After that the job would have to be posted because it is quite expensive to use temp labor.

Job skills are like a used car. If you’re selling for $3000 and I offer $2200, you can take my offer or wait. You expect a better offer but don’t get it. But this car is worth $3000! No it ain’t, it’s worth what someone will pay for it.. So you come back to me. “I’ll take your $2200. “Sorry, I bought another car from a guy who was anxious to sell.”” After 99 weeks that car is a little rusty and buyers are wondering why you couldn’t sell it sooner. “Sorry Sir, but a 58 Unionman isn’t exactly what we had in mind. We’re looking for something newer without the Unionman troubles”

Summer nirvana… I know that feeling. As a child, I didn’t really forget everything, but it was blissful to not have to think about it for awhile. As an adult, I look forward to that same feeling when I’m on vacation. I go to a new place and let go of all responsibilities. Ahhhh… summer nirvana!

Danae! You can write the good essay about your summer nirvana and about Ekert, the elephant-fairy, too before you go back to school. :-)

I know how she feels. About mid-afternoon Saturday, I manage to forget everything that happened last week at work. Oh, darn. Now it’s starting to come back to me.

@runninanreadin just become a teacher.

I really hope that they don’t eliminate summer vacations…the parents cherish it as much as the kids do. You can supplement your kid’s learning by having them do small exercises during the summer to help them retain what they’ve learned without taking away their break. They always get refreshers at the beginning of the next year to help them remember anyway.

What a delight! Danae’s expression of joy brings back the feelings from those childhood summers when you could run barefoot in the grass, catch fireflies, go swimming and just BE.

@Dry Most teachers have to work during the summer to supplement crappy wages.

And they start working a month earlier than the students come back (meetings, room preparation, lesson planning, etc)

And most of their time off is spent recovering their mental health from dealing with students like Danae. :)

oh, i thought that the effect ekert had on her was over…

It was all a dream.

It’s important to do away with school summer vacation, because getting the summer off sets unrealistic expectation in children whose most likely future is sixty-hour weeks with no time off, ever. Gotta do it so we can be “competitive” with China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc….

As a child, I LOVED summer vacation. It was a time to just experience life (and boredom), and I didn’t forget what I had learned during the school year. As a matter of fact, I anticipated the new school year by August and what teacher wouldn’t love that?!

^Oh, and the lists of Sins! What a wonderful reminder of his reality check!

runar, sorry, I must have been working to hard.

cleokaya, I had my invisible tag on that one.

Seriously, though, does anyone think that summer vacations now are anything like the ones we old codgers remember? No running off to the park or the local patch of woods from breakfast until lunch, then taking off ona bicycle safari in the afternoon. It seems that kids now have every ot-of-class moment scheduled, supervised and regulated. I used to be able to ride my tricycle all the way around the block - now all I see are kids who aren’t allowed to leave their yards.

Sadly true, Runar.

(And Puddleglum, I hope you’re wrong, but…)

I agree Runar. We used to pack a lunch and be gone for the whole day. Could actually swim in the river then and did so on many occasions. Had to be on time for dinner or chores would be added. And Never, Never, ever complain that you were bored or you’d wind up mowing the lawn with tweezers!

Today was an absolutely perfect summer day and there was not one child outside in our neighbourhood. It was so sad. The chestnuts are ripe and nobody’s pickin’ them to make spinners.

Summer fun… Boys and girls run… Free as the clouds… Screaming so loud… Holding in hearts… The sum of the parts… Playing without fear… Till thoughts of next year… Oh and this just in… The results from the last poll… Lewreader’s an @$$hole…