Thoughts from Dr. Joe: Weighing in on the topic of summer school
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I read Bob Frank’s column in the Valley Sun last week, “The Focused Student: The purpose-driven summer school.” He must never have heard the song, “It’s Summertime,” by the Jamies. So what’s Bob thinking? He obviously didn’t read the memo.
“Well shut them books and throw em away...say goodbye to dull school days...so come on and change your ways...it’s summertime.”
With Sister Celeste from Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Father Tony from St. Francis High, Peter Bachmann of Prep, Ian McFeat and Jim Cartnal of LCHS and Bob Frank at Hillside, La Cañada is a bastion for educational leadership. All of these local institutions have vibrant summer school programs. It’s a brave new world and perhaps there’s more to those lazy hazy days of summer than soda, pretzels and beer.
“Well no more studying history...and no more reading geography...and no more dull geometry...because it’s summertime.”
I understand Bob’s explanation that the Russian Sputnik of 1957 and their first man in space in 1961, Yuri Gagarin, launched an American scientific educational revolution. In 1961, I was a freshman in high school. I didn’t attend a science camp, but I read voraciously throughout the summer. However, because I also enjoyed an endless summer of swimming at Orchard Beach, pitching pennies in the street and throwing rocks into the Harlem River, I was ready for school in September.
Nevertheless, after Alan Shepard and John Glenn became American space heroes, we cleaned the Soviet Union’s clock. They were never even close in the exploration of space. Was this the result of an American progressive approach toward education inclusive of summer school? I don’t think so. It was American ingenuity. The freedom to think, create and innovate without the dictatorial constraints of the state is the guru.
“Well we’ll go swimming every day...no time to work just time to play...if your folks complain just say it’s summertime.”
As I got older, instead of taking summer school classes I worked three jobs. That was itself an education.
I finally caught up with Bob Frank at Starbucks. I thought I get him with a zinger: “Bob! Why the heck are you proselytizing about summer school?” I pushed further, invoking the song, ‘It’s Summertime.’
“Gotcha,” I thought to myself.
He smiled. Then he began to sing, “It’s summertime, summertime, sum-sum summertime.” And he continued to sing. I joined in. But after some verses, we settled in for a heady discussion.
Bob contends that today summer school is practically a necessity. With advanced placement, college applications and the increased demands of a rigid curriculum, students are under considerable duress.
“Summer school alleviates the pressures of a condensed curriculum and offers students an opportunity to explore. I’m an advocate of the liberal arts. We are too specialized; we need a broader view. Some of the most prolific educated individuals are renaissance men/women. The opportunities afforded by summer school are endless,” he said.
“I hear you,” I responded. “But Bob, it’s summertime.”
I began to appreciate Bob as an innovative thinker. He spoke of an avant-garde approach to learning, which includes leadership, philosophy and cross-cultural studies. In a geometry class at Hillside he supported building a playhouse by utilizing geometrical theories. This is from a guy who greets each student each day as they begin their day of classes.
Yet I wasn’t convinced.
“It’s time to head straight for them hills... it’s time to live and have some thrills...come along and have a ball...a regular free for all...”
“Joe,” he said, “think of the creative potential of summer school.”
I began to have visions of myself as the Fonz, the fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the sitcom, “Happy Days.” Arthur Fonzarelli had a difficult time entertaining the idea that he might be wrong about an issue. Could it be that the Jamies were wrong?
But it’s summertime!
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JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
