School holidays

A special report from GMTV on how many families were taking their children on holiday during term time because it was cheaper than during the summer break. A rep came on and impressed me by making no bones about the matter "It's supply and demand" yep same number of slots more people wanting them so the price goes up; just look at the Jackson memorial tickets on eBay.

What the report didn't seem to want to delve into was exactly why schools have such a long break and why all at the same time.

Interestingly I can't seem to find an origin on the 'net for this, the official reason is that it's a time for the kids to relax and be kids, to do maintenance on the schools and give the teachers some time to extend their training etc. which doesn't explain why it's done at the same time beyond state schools being centrally managed nor why it has such a long history.

An explanation I have been told, and been unable to verify, was that the origin was at the time when the government started to insist on compulsory education; the UK was still a mix of industrial and agricultural and what would happen during this time was what happened at the same time when parents had to pay for an education - the kids went home to help their families on the farm. The summer holidays are just a formalisation of this arrangement.

The summer holidays are an anachronism. Claiming that it's for teachers to catch up on training is countered by the teacher-training days that occur during term time; that the schools need maintenance by the number of classes I took in portable cabins; and that kids need the time off by the amount of homework piled on to them presumably in an attempt to stop them forgetting everything they've just learnt.

We have summer holidays because... we have summer holidays; as it was so shall it always be, amen.