When did summer school become a reality?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
School is out for the summer - here it lets out at the end of June and resumes in early September. However, I still see school busses out and about. I asked at the library and was told it was for summer school students. We never had that BS when I was a kid. The last day of school, we all sang, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks." Why and what is "summer school"?

No wonder I have to pay almost $4000 a year in school taxes on my little bungalow.
 

Last edited:
Summer school was at least around in the mid 70s. I never attended, but it was often for kids who needed a boost in order to advance to the next grade. I *think* (although I don't remember clearly) that it was also open to kids who would have been on their own at home all day, too... the older ones helped the younger with learning activities.
 
It existed in the 70s when I was in school but it was mostly for kids that needed a bit of extra attention.

Today, there are all sorts of summer school programs to help keep kids engaged.

Iā€™m all for keeping kids busy, well fed, and supervised.

IMO it wouldnā€™t be a bad thing to have year round school with a vacation break between semesters.
 
Before entering high school I had the opportunity to go to summer school for 3 weeks to learn saxophone. I really wanted to learn saxophone so figured if I learned how to play it, my chances of playing saxophone grew greater. Sure enough I got to play saxophone from grade 9 to grade 13.
Summer school also offers those who are falling behind a chance to upgrade their marks. Iā€™m all for it.
 
debodun said:
School is out for the summer - here it lets out at the end of June and resumes in early September. However, I still see school busses out and about. I asked at the library and was told it was for summer school students. We never had that BS when I was a kid. The last day of school, we all sang, "No more pencils, no more book, no more teacher's dirty looks." Why and what is "summer school"?

No wonder I have to pay almost $4000 a year in school taxes on my little bungalow.
Click to expand...
I was in (by choice) summer school to get a Jumpstart on my education, fat chance on that. Had one good P.E. teacher, a science teacher who would insult students for wrong answers. Then auto shop where we spent the Sumner watching "Educational" films while the teacher hit the bottle.

The actual reasons we let students off in summer, was harvest time. Now with so much automation, we should have eliminated that and done like Japan.
 
My mother was a firm believer summer school. I remember the experience fondly. I attended in california in my early grades. We moved to arizona when I was turning 13and entering the sixth grade. Man oh man was arizona behind education wiseā€¦and I do not know anything about even whether it existed or not for students. It needed toā€¦
 
I went to summer school in the late 60s after failing biology. Couldn't stand the teacher and tuned out during class. Had a different teacher in summer school and brought my grade up to a B.

My town's school busses didn't run during summer so kids had arrange their own transportation. Since my HS was 6 miles away and I wasn't yet old enough to drive, my mother had to drive me and pick me up.
 
I grew up in NE Ohio in the late 50ā€™s. We had summer school, but no bus service.

A child was in big trouble at home if the parents had to drive him/her to summer school every day ā€”- especially since most of us were farmers and time was devoted to farming.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Summer school was always a threat teachers used on us in the 50s and up. If you flunked the grade you had to go to summer school. In summer school, you got bread and water, whips and chains, and lots of homework.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I grew up in Pittsburgh, and in the 1950s & 60s summer school was for remedial purposes. Around 1960 I got a very poor grade in Latin class, so I had to re-take it in summer school in order to advance. It was a big mistake selecting Latin as a language instead of, say, Spanish..:confused:
 
Imogene said:
I grew up in NE Ohio in the late 50ā€™s. We had summer school, but no bus service.

A child was in big trouble at home if the parents had to drive him/her to summer school every day ā€”- especially since most of us were farmers and time was devoted to farming
Click to expand...
 
I loved going to summer school in the 60's in Northeastern Ohio! It wasn't mandatory. You just signed up for what you were interested in and went. No buses, we walked to it. I took typing and shorthand. Going to summer school got me out of chores at home.
 
I attended summer school once in the 60ā€™s to improve in math. I was required to take another elective class and chose a course in speed reading for lack of anything else to choose from. I loved To read and benefited from it. Also improved in math.
 
When I was in school in the 60s and early 70s, summer school was mandatory for poor performing kids that had to retake courses in order to pass courses they failed during the school year. You either went to summer school or you had to repeat the year.

There was no bus service, you had to get to class by your own means. You were considered a real loser if you had to attend summer school.
 
Tom52 said:
When I was in school in the 60s and early 70s, summer school was mandatory for poor performing kids that had to retake courses in order to pass courses they failed during the school year. You either went to summer school or you had to repeat the year.

There was no bus service, you had to get to class by your own means. You were considered a real loser if you had to attend summer school.
Click to expand...

For sure ^^^^ It was a hang your head in shame thing, where I was from. Plus, as I said above, we were rural and farming was big. If the kids ended up in summer school, there went a free hired hand for the summer and the embarrassment doubled.

One of my farming neighbors really did have issues because he was milking cows at 5:00 AM and in the fields until dark, after school. He was terribly lacking in sleep. I often did his reports, which Iā€™m sure the teachers knew but didnā€™t say anything because he was a good kid, they knew his story, and at least I helped keep him out of summer school. We graduated together but he sadly passed from a heart attack in his early 60ā€™s, still running his own farm.
 
I went to summer school as a kid, my parents encouraged it, I think because they were always encouraging more and more learning. Weirdly I don't remember being at it or learning anything there, just have vague impressions of being excited that it would start, and then being glad when it was over. It must have just been during elementary school age.
 
I had to repeat a course in high school one summer. After the 11th grade.
The course during regular school session was a typical hour long class.
But in summer school and the shortened time frame, the same course lasted, I think, 3hrs each day. Maybe 4, can't remember exactly.
There weren't many people in summer school. Not enough to run the buses. I drove myself each day.
Bonus was, one of the prettiest girls was in that summer class. She and I skipped one day to cruise the next town over and hang at the river.
If I hadn't repeated that course during the summer, I wouldn't have graduated the following school year with my class. Not enough credits.
Everything went fine and I graduated on time.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top