For several days I have seen a post going around on Facebook applauding a dad for telling off his kid's school because he took him on an educational vacation and his kid learned so much more on that vacation then they ever would in school.  Many people pass this along with comments about how great the dad is and how dare the school tell us what to do with our children!  I've let it go several times but I can't anymore, I have to speak out, because many of my well meaning friends don't know what goes on INSIDE that school that prompts the need for schools to speak out against parents taking their children on vacation for weeks at a time and pulling them out of school to do so.

I am an educator.  I go to work everyday to educate nearly 100 children in skills as basic as reading, writing, and being able to communicate in a way that makes them look intelligent so that they will be able to get into that college of choice, and so that they will be able to fill out a resume and be able to coherently converse in a job interview.  Many of my colleagues teach other things, like math skills, how to balance a checkbook, the essentials of biology, history, technology, and the arts.  These students get seven hours of instruction in my classroom a week.  That is just in my classroom. That is a lot of time to miss and make up.

When students get pulled out of school to go on vacation, one of two things happens.  One, the parents ask me to pull together their "work" so they can do it ahead of time so they don't get behind on vacation.  That is a lovely thought, presuming I do not actually TEACH and the student can just fill out some worksheet on their own and merrily go on their way.  I don't know about you, but if my child's teacher "taught" that way I would pull her out of that school immediately.  The second thing that happens is that the students comes back to school, having missed seven hours of instruction and practice time (or more), and now is falling behind, and the parents expect the teacher to stay after school, uncompensated, or ignore the education of 29 other students who were here, to get their child caught up BECAUSE THEY WENT ON VACATION.  

Can vacations be educational?  Absolutely!  Most of ours are, to the point of my children asking me if they can go do something on vacation where they DON'T have to learn something please?!

Can they even, gasp, be more educational than sitting in a classroom? You bet!!  I don't have a problem with you taking your child any time, any where you want.  Just don't expect there to not be consequences when you come back.  And don't expect the teacher to spend his or her own personal time, or the time that belongs to furthering the education of ALL students, on catching your child up on what they missed.  That became YOUR job when you pulled them out of school.  If you don't want the school to be upset that you pulled your kid out of school for multiple weeks because you want to take them on educational field trips, by all means home school them and take all the vacations you want! But, if you choose to put your child in school, be it public, private, or charter, then you have made a commitment to that school to have your child in attendance as much as humanly possible!  Barring sickness and the occasional doctor or dentist appointment (because all attempts to make the appointment AFTER school have failed), you agreed, by enrolling your child, that they would be in attendance.  If you choose to break that agreement, then understand the consequences and don't blame the school or the teacher if your child struggles to catch up.

Do I applaud this dad?  No.  But it's not for the reason that you think.  It appears he took his kids to the Boston Marathon and that occurs at a very specific time of the year.  Given the events of the bombing at the Boston Marathon two years ago, this could be a very valuable thing for his children to experience.  I would love to take my children to see all the historical sites in Boston and the surrounding area, it would make history truly come alive!  That is not at all why I don't applaud this dad.  I don't applaud this dad because he has shown his ignorance of the educational process (state tests CAN'T be taken at any time, there is a mandated window in which they must be administered), and his disdain for education by not taking responsibility for the contractual obligation that he broke. He has now become an example of "standing up to schools"....WHAT?!  Last I heard, a free an appropriate education was a privilege! One that many students in other countries literally walk for miles to obtain! Last I heard, schools and parents were supposed to work together to create an educational opportunity for the student.  I guess I heard wrong.