Time Shifts

I feel really guilty about not posting over the summer. “The best laid plans of mice and men …”

But it wasn’t because of an eight week holiday.

While most school administrators (including those of us at Appleby) usually take summer vacation, we don’t take the entire summer as vacation. This is one the great myths of schools – that we all take two months off. I took about 3 weeks with my family and regret that I didn’t take more time with our kids as they bounced between camps. Our older two kids are at the stage where next summer, jobs will likely get in the way of our having all of us spend a couple of weeks together at my wife’s family’s cottage in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. So this summer was a bit of a milestone, and my wife Alison and I feel a bit sad that the family-focused, extended time together over the summer may now be a thing of the past.

Extended summer holidays are by no means uniquely Canadian. While we get to enjoy more holidays than our friends to the south and many Asian countries, we still rank well-below many European countries. However, the idea of time away at a cottage, at a camp, on a canoe trip or at another outdoor location with family is very much part of the Canadian ethos. This may be evolving, but it’s still very much part of what I think as being typically Canadian (together with bagged milk, the CBC, an over-developed inclination towards apology, and the Crispy Crunch bar). For many of us, our special places – those with which we seem to have the strongest, most nostalgic bond – relate to summer holidays, be it Georgian Bay, Lake Joseph, Algonquin Park, Temagami, or the Bruce Trail.

I have read a few articles about research that points to how extended summer vacations for students are not in the best interest of optimal learning, but on the other hand many have prophesized that Canadian school administrators mess with summer holidays at their own peril.

What is true, however, is the increasing popularity of pursuing education or education-lite in the summer. This last two months, we had more than 5000 registrants in our summer camps, summer academy and residential ESL program – a record number. And the popularity of summer credit programs, especially related to international travel, has never been greater. Many summer overnight outdoor summer camps have for credit elements to their programs.

As I speak with students and faculty about what they are most frustrated with about their Appleby experience, there is close to unanimity that number one is managing the challenging demands of the program within our most limited resource – time. So, as we prepare our next strategic plan, we are going back to a question which I posed two years ago – should we challenge our paradigm of time? Does it make sense to consider optional alternatives such as an extra year of high school, or broader summer offerings, or re-consider the length of the academic year?

Finally, let me go back to that question of summer holidays and a common lament by critics of schools. Heck, even I was guilty many years ago of musing about this subject – why is it that teachers get so many holidays?

If you look at the faculty, most of whom are away for all of July and August, the reality of their work year is quite different than the typical assumption. We’ve done the math and it is clear that teachers at busy independent schools trade off more holidays (in the summer and at Christmas) for work weeks in the academic year that are all-consuming.

This was brought home to me over the few week. With classes and meetings starting at 8 am every weekday, and co-curricular programs running until 5 or 6 pm, the standard day is a very long one. But on top of it, rehearsals for plays or sports fixtures (especially away-games) frequently result in later evenings and Saturday absences. And when one starts to include residence duty on week nights and on weekends, Saturday service days, and special events like Homecoming, parent/teacher interviews, and grade parties, all that free time away from school starts to dissipate like an early morning fog meeting the hot morning sun. And of course, our outdoor education and global education programs are core elements of the experience at Appleby, and they require faculty to be away in an all-encompassing 24/7 experience for between three days to more than two weeks. I realized that a couple of weeks ago as I waved goodbye to colleagues on Saturday as they ventured forth in canoes for an overnight with our new boarders in the pouring rain at Pinecrest. And they were a long way from their own spouses, partners and children.

At a place like Appleby, we expect our teachers to be more than adequate. We expect them to be ‘on’ in the classroom, to be ‘on’ at the playing field, to be ‘on’ in the canoe, and to be ‘on’ when counselling boarders during weekend duty. I have come to appreciate that while they do have more vacations than most, it is an absolutely fair reflection of what we ask of them during the schools year, and an essential requirement for both their long-term sanity and being the energized/engaged guide for their students.