On 2/19/18, Caleuche <xxxxxx@sudnadja.com> wrote:
> And, according to Wikipedia, farming has nothing to do with it:
> The origins of the summer holiday break are often believed to be rooted in
> agriculture. It is widely believed that the school calendar follows the
> agrarian farming calendar because during the settlement of the United
> States, the nation primarily consisted of a farming population. This belief
> maintains that the current school calendar has a two to three-month break so
> that children could assume the necessary tasks of planting and harvesting
> crops. However, planting of most crops occurred in the spring and harvest
> occurred in the fall. Rural schools would often break for spring and fall
> seasons, but continue schooling throughout the summer.

Well, yes and no. It is rooted in agriculture - but not for the reason
people believe.
The actual reason was to deprive farm families of the labor their
children provided, thus requiring them to hire replacement labor. Of
course, as noted above, rural school boards then just moved the
required education time to the summer, with harvest and planting
breaks taking the place of summer break.