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June 25, 2014 Featured

5 Reasons Summer School Is Better Than Regular School

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Jeremy S. Adams

Jeremy S. Adams is the author of HOLLOWED OUT: A Warning About America's Next Generation (2021) as well as Riding the Wave (2020, Solution Tree), The Secrets of Timeless Teachers (2016, Rowman & Littlefield) & Full Classrooms, Empty Selves (2012, Middleman Books). He is a graduate of Washington & Lee University and teaches Political Science at both Bakersfield High School and California State University, Bakersfield. He is the recipient of numerous teaching and writing honors including the 2014 California Teacher of the Year Award (Daughters of the American Revolution), was named the 2012 Kern County Teacher of the Year, was a semi-finalist in 2013 for the California Department of Education’s Teachers of the Year Program, and was a finalist in 2014 for the prestigious Carlston Family Foundation National Teacher Award. The California State Senate recently sponsored a resolution in recognition of his achievements in education. He is a 2018 CSUB (California State University, Bakersfield) Hall of Fame inductee.
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My first exposure to Summer School teaching was the acting performance of Mark Harmon (as Mr. Shoop) in the 1987 Carl Reiner comedy, Summer School. It might not have been an Oscar-caliber performance, but it has stuck with me for the better part of my life.

I wasn’t even a teenager the first time I watched it, but I remember laughing at the first scene of the film as Mr. Shoop darts from car to car in a lame attempt to hide from the Assistant Principal who is on the prowl to find Summer School teachers. Eventually, he is bribed and cajoled to teach remedial English where he encounters a potpourri of lively students who each have their own interesting and entertaining reasons for academic incompetence. Despite his own claim that he is not a “real teacher,” by the end of the summer Mr. Shoop takes a class of misfits and gets each of them to experience significant academic growth.

summerreadingThe movie can be characterized as a phantasmagoria of outlandish scenes, each one trying to outdo the previous one with its level of absurdity. But still, there is something strangely appealing and instructive about the film for those of us who actually enjoy teaching Summer School. In fact, there are a number of features about Summer School (the teaching term, not the film) that are superior to the normal school year:

Reason #5: A Relaxed Dress Code. Need I say more?

Reason #4: Education is a privilege, not a right. I have found in my decade of teaching Summer School that when students know their education is a privilege and not a right, they are far less likely to take it for granted. In my school district, students get three absences for the entire six-week course. And it doesn’t matter why they miss—sickness, fatigue, a family vacation. No matter. On day four the students are dropped. When students know and accept this high expectation from the beginning they are far less likely to be tardy and far more motivated to make it to class, even if they feel the urge to take a day off. The consequences for tardiness and absenteeism are applied evenly and systematically to all students. It might seem rigid but I have found that students respond when they know there are serious consequences. Click here for the next reason.

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