Agrarian calendar

School begins next week for teachers. Well, for me, anyway.

I've had a nice break. Two long out-of-town vacations and time for a four-week, intensive workshop with teachers.

Lots of time off.

Yesterday it felt like it was way too much time off, especially when I ran into a student and asked him what he was reading.

"Nothin'. I don't read."

The agrarian calendar has outlived its usefulness. It seems that the world is runs at 3 times the speed of my youth, with accelerated, instantaneous, 24-hour communication.

We can't afford to leave our kids unchallenged, unsupervised, uneducated for two-and-a-half months. Everybody else is getting their hooks into them: television, twitter, Facebook, and hours of dulling sleep on the couch.

Even the manager at a part-time job is having more influence than we are.

Time for some real reform:

A year round calendar.