Last Words: Should Summer Breaks For Elementary Schools Be Shorter?

This issue, we reached out to some friends of the Grapevine to ask a question that’s been in the news lately: should summer breaks for elementary schools be shorter? Here are some of the responses.

“No. The demand that children constantly be more effective — whether it be in school, sports, culture, etc. — advanced by everyone from TikTok executives to school authorities to overambitious soccer-and-violin parents, that children get no respite from action, be it organised or dopamine-induced, is not only inhibiting their general growth but also causing them pretty obvious anguish. We should all have longer breaks with less and more aimless plans, whenever possible, not only kids — vacations without goals, learning without pressure, sport without expectation, life for the sake of life, with time to find it — and for that we need to dare be bored and we need to dare let our children be bored. Unsupervised.” — Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, author

“Something in me says the vacations should be longer. Maybe because I am getting old and the summers of yore seem so beautiful. The vacations were long and leisurely. Some say they were based on the life cycles of sheep breeding. So the vacations started when sheep were put to pasture in the mountains in the spring, and they ended when they were gathered in the autumn. But seriously no, I think kids need good vacations and they shouldn’t really be based on the working hours of their parents. Children need more, not less, freedom.” — Egill Helgason, broadcaster, journalist

“I know there are many sides to this issue, and I’m no expert. I am a parent, though, and I believe that if my child is on summer break, I should be too. I wish we could all work less and enjoy more, without the constant risk of poverty for some. Of course, some people can afford to take time off, while many cannot — and that is a problem I want to see solved. Maybe instead of debating whether summer breaks should be shorter or longer, we should focus on eradicating poverty. Just a thought.” — Alma Mjöll Ólafsdóttir, journalist