Not Defending the Academic Summer

My last class of the semester was Wednesday, May 15... My next class will be Thursday, Sept. 5.

Do those sentences engender envy, longing, admiration, jealousy, anger, revolt or a simmering emotion somewhere in between? My non-teaching friends imagine my academic summer as three-months of Saturdays lounging on the back deck in a Grateful Dead Concert T-Shirt, eating chocolate bon-bons, and staring up at the sky creating fantasies from cloud shapes.

Now, I'm not going to try to defend an archaic school schedule based on our agrarian past. Everyone knows that students are not released, in most cases, to work on the family farm during the summer months. Though maligned, our current school schedule is an accepted tradition: sort of like hiding a pickle on the Christmas Tree. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's tradition and is not going to change.

Though I have long since retired my Grateful Dead T-Shirt, I'll admit I do look forward to the break and try to take advantage of the time off. Naturally, family vacations are planned during the summer. Our children are married during the summer, and births planned for June/July delivery -- just count back nine months. Honey-do lists checked off, and doctor and dentist appointments scheduled. We have three months to get our health back after having trashed it for nine. A caffeinated diet only goes so far.

Teachers who are still working on advanced degrees, squeeze in as many classes as possible, in addition to professional workshops and conferences. At my college, it is expected that faculty attend at least 40-hours of professional development each year. Summer is the best time to do that, because we just don't have the time during the school year. Conferences during the school year mean we have to find substitutes to teach our students. That's something most faculty would rather not do.

Summer is also the time for department planning meetings; for joining interview committees; for cleaning up, redesigning and remodeling classroom space; for preparing new lesson plans; and writing new curriculum. This is the time to crack open the bright and shiny textbooks that were shipped to us just before Easter and have sat unopened under the desk until now. This is the time to explore new software and Internet learning sites, and to wonder how the iPad could be added to the classroom?  And, some instructors do accept summer teaching assignments. I did that last year and enjoyed it.

But mostly, the academic summer is a time to recharge the batteries, to rediscover why we do what we do and prepare for the next school year. I'm not trying to make excuses here. This is not a hidden perk. The summer break is a well-known benefit of the academic job, like dental or eye care, or an executive wellness center. I just want to point out that our summers are as busy as neighbors in the private sector. Just like others, we find we rarely have the time to lounge on the back deck and wonder at the shape of the now flying quickly by.