One can debate the merits and pitfalls of more school or less. But then came a push to standardize the school calendar across the country, thus the arrival of the 180-day year most districts follow today. ![]() In 1842, New York City Public Schools were open 242 days – but attendance wasn’t mandatory. Once upon a time, some urban schools were practically open year-round. Children were also needed in the springtime and harvest seasons – and local school calendars often reflected local needs based on the timing of regional crops. It turns out, that was only partially true. Back when most of America was farmland, families needed kids to be home in the summer to work the land and “bring in the sheaves” as the old hymn goes. Growing up, I was always told the school year was based on the agrarian calendar. From camps and resorts to sporting activities and all kinds of hobbies, moms and dads make plans based on the first and last days of school. Whole industries depend upon the rhythms of nine to ten months of academics. So, why then the rush to all things Fall? Is it a general spirit of discontent? Impatience? A craving for sweaters, crunchy leaves and pumpkin spice lattes?įor the past century, life for many families has revolved around the school year calendar. Instead of shortening, it will definitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal.” “Time will not be taken from the sum of life. “Wander a whole summer if you can,” he once wrote. John Muir, the Scottish-American naturalist best known for the woods bearing his name in Northern California, had a similarly romantic view of the season. “May summer last a hundred years,” wrote the novelist Frances Mayes. The days in between are marked by warm temperatures and a wondrous litany of traditions for many punctuated by family vacations and a slower pace. Arriving in the Northern Hemisphere each year around June 21 st, the season runs through the autumnal equinox, usually around September 21 st. And a pastor friend of mine kicked off a new fall sermon series yesterday. Social media feeds these days are full of back-to-school photographs and stories. The ceramic pumpkins first appeared outside the local supermarket here in Colorado Springs in July.
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