Summer School

We're entering into the August doldrums. Why does everything seem to slow down in August? Is it the heat? I guess that's a big part of it. It was supposed to be in the 90s in Chicago this weekend, but the temperature has moderated a bit to just the low-to-mid-80s (which is still too warm for my blood). A major reason that we tend to slack off a bit is out of habit. That's just what August is for. If you're a kid, it's your last chance to waste time before going back to school in the fall. If you're the parent of a kid, you may use the opportunity to take off from your own job for a vacation (or, this year, a staycation.)

But in Chicago, at least, that may not hold for too much longer. The Chicago school system has more than doubled its number of year-round schools, going from 18 to 41. The big news about that is that the students at these schools are scheduled to report for the new school year just two days from now. And if the students are due to show up, that means the teachers have already been there for at least a couple of weeks. Will the August doldrums hit? Will the schools have diminishing returns? I can't imagine that they won't, which just goes away from the schools' charge anyway.

I'm very glad that I'm not one of these students for whom the summer has come to a screeching halt. Of course, instead of going to school, I get to go into my full-time job as a way to spend August. Now that I put it that way, maybe it's not quite so different after all.