To the editor:
Re: "Class Notes: Looking for balance," Feb. 17.
I was interested to read about [school superintendent] Steve Cardwell's comments regarding year-round schooling: specifically, that there has not been much opposition. As the parent of a child in a Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»school, I can tell you that parents have never been approached for a discussion around this issue.
I'm vehemently opposed to changing the school calendar so dramatically. Teachers, apparently, bemoan the learning loss that occurs over the summer. I'm sure some learning loss does occur, but I would suggest that the summer months offer something equally important to academic learn-ing: the opportunity for kids to run, play and explore outside, and to meet and play with other kids from their neighbourhood, often without parents directing their play. It offers kids a chance to vacation with their families (without having to go too far afield), and a chance to spend long days playing in parks-an activity that is still, amazingly, free
Give kids a month off in December and April when the weather is bad, and you will see a lot of kids spending the entire month watching TV. Let them keep their summers. It's one of the only small freedoms that kids have left in our modern, rush-from-one-activity-to-the-next world.
Christine McCrea, Vancouver
