Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Jul 9, 2012
Summer Vacation is Too Long
Rav Ovadiah Yosef is not the only one calling for an end to summer vacation. Rav Efraim Zalminovitch, the rav of Mazkeret Batya, has written to Minister of Education Gideo Saar recommending that the Ministry of Education cancel the long summer vacation.
Rav Zalminovitch writes that the summer vacation, being 2.5 months or so long, has become a major financial burden on the middle class parents, having to pay for camps and day care while the parents continue to work, along with just to keep the kids busy, or else parents have to take days off of work.
Canceling the vacation would save a lot of money to the parents and to the workforce, and it would save a lot of kids from nights wandering aimlessly looking for entertainment.
Rav Zalminovitch recommends using this time to teach the kids in an informal setting about Torah and derech eretz.
(source: Mynet)
I always thought, as do many, that the "chofesh hagadol" of summer vacation is way too long. Kids get bored after just a short vacation. Whatever they should teach, whether it is as Rav Zalminovitch suggests or maybe something else, keeping the kids in a framework with only a short vacation would be great. It would save parents money, as he says, and it would keep the kids from getting into trouble.
I don't expect it to change though. The teachers want their vacation, and would never agree to working an additional 6 to 8 weeks...
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Rav Zalminovitch writes that the summer vacation, being 2.5 months or so long, has become a major financial burden on the middle class parents, having to pay for camps and day care while the parents continue to work, along with just to keep the kids busy, or else parents have to take days off of work.
Canceling the vacation would save a lot of money to the parents and to the workforce, and it would save a lot of kids from nights wandering aimlessly looking for entertainment.
Rav Zalminovitch recommends using this time to teach the kids in an informal setting about Torah and derech eretz.
(source: Mynet)
I always thought, as do many, that the "chofesh hagadol" of summer vacation is way too long. Kids get bored after just a short vacation. Whatever they should teach, whether it is as Rav Zalminovitch suggests or maybe something else, keeping the kids in a framework with only a short vacation would be great. It would save parents money, as he says, and it would keep the kids from getting into trouble.
I don't expect it to change though. The teachers want their vacation, and would never agree to working an additional 6 to 8 weeks...
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
I agree.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't the school-kaytanot counselors (not the regular school staff) work for 7-8 weeks, rather than the usual 3? Are the school buildings being otherwise occupied? I don't get it. -Yaffa
2.5 months long? The academic years goes until the end of June, and the new one starts in August. That's less than 2 months. If anything, more education is necessary to make sure our kids know how to count better than that. :)
ReplyDeletethe new academic year starts september 1st, doe sit not? or maybe it is the last few days of August. While my boys are still in school, my girls finished school before the end of June - it was I think the beginning of the third week (unless I am remembering incorrectly).
ReplyDeleteAnd even if I am remembering the dates wrong, 2 months vacation is also too long :)
Under the public school system the school year has always gone from Sept. 1 to June 30. You may remember the scandal last year when Misrad HaHinuch decided to move up the begining of the school year to provide more time to prepare for the Yom Narim even though they fell late this year. The change is taking effect this year. The school year starts August 27th (ish).
ReplyDeleteIn North America they have been experiencing with the concept of all year schooling. Kids get shorter breaks through out the year. The main benefits are better retention of learned skills and as there is always a group of kids on vacation, schools operating above maximum capacity have more space.
Any shortening of the summer vacation is going to compensated with extra time off during the year. Parents will not be able to rely on schools for additional babysitting time. Plus A/C is a lot more expensive to run in August than in the middle of winter, pushing extra costs onto the school.
There may be legitimate arguments for a shorter summer break. Saving parents money is a stretch.