Public education in the United States was created for the sole purpose of teaching children and preparing them for work, mainly for blue-collar jobs. It was meant for teaching children to respect and listen to authority with no questions asked. Okay, fine, but what does that have to do with summer break?

If we didn’t have a summer break, we could graduate much sooner and enter the workforce, so why even have it?

In the 19th-century, people sought to standardize school and make it more accessible. Before then, education was generally informal and only a privilege for wealthy kids. This only changed during the Common School Movement where they advocated for public education. With this, came a need for standardization, and school districts were created.

The standardization was needed because of new laws around compulsory education, education required by the government. The school calendar was standardized, but teachers noticed a pattern. During the summer, attendance rates went down, and it was hard to cool the school buildings during the summer. The lower attendance rates were related to upper class families choosing to leave and go somewhere with a cooler climate, and so many schools cancelled sessions due to the poor attendance.

While that was happening, transportation via train was becoming more affordable, and so middle class families followed the trend of upper class families leaving for the summer.

Additionally, many teachers advocated for breaks, and many Americans in this time period believed that learning in hot weather was bad for the health of the students. And so, summer break was created and was seen as a way for teachers and students to rest and recover.

Many people believe that summer break was created for agricultural reasons, as children would need to help their parents with their crops, however, that is a misconception. Traveling became more affordable, and thus, people wanted to travel, whether to have a vacation or to get out of the summer heat, the large amount of people choosing to leave led to summer break becoming an ongoing thing.

Maybe if we start skipping enough school, there will be more breaks, but that’s unlikely because this only happened because the teachers wanted a break as well.

There is a good reason why we have a summer break; it’s very beneficial to students, parents and teachers. If we didn’t have a summer break we would graduate sooner, but without the huge benefit summer break brings to rest and refresh and spend time with friends and family.