Centre for Civic Governance

If you asked the average city-raised student when and how corn is harvested you would probably get a blank stare. Not surprisingly. In Canada, farming is a dying way of life. Many children have never seen a working farm, let alone spent time in the back 40 doing chores.

And yet the system in which those children will spend their formative years is designed around the ebb and flow of farm life. Which doesn't really make sense.

The growing disconnect between modern life and the traditional school calendar -- from September to June with two long months off during the summer growing season -- may explain why parents in cities such as Ottawa (part of it) are preparing to send their children back to school in mid-August, while traditional summer holidays are still in full swing in other cities

Ecole Bernard-Grandmaître, in Riverside South, is the only public school in Ottawa that follows a different school calendar -- a schedule once referred to as year-round schooling, but now more accurately called the balanced school year. Other boards should be paying attention. The balanced school year is a system that benefits both students and their families.

Students at the elementary school, currently in the middle of their six-week summer break, will begin a new school year in mid-August, three weeks before their counterparts at other schools. In exchange for the shortened summer, they will get an extra week off after Thanksgiving, an extra week for March break and one week in May. They also get two weeks off at Christmas.

The pilot project was launched by the Conseil des écoles catholiques de langue français du Centre-Est three years ago when the new school was opened. Students of the French Catholic board living in Riverside South have the choice of two elementary schools -- one with a traditional calendar and the one with the balanced-year calendar. To board officials' surprise, the adjusted school calendar has been a hit with parents. Enrolment, which was at 151 when the school opened in 2006, reached 272 last year, far surpassing predictions.

No one should be surprised that parents like the balanced school calendar -- it fits better with the way we live.

Nicole Regan, who has three children at école Bernard-Grandmaître, says the schedule works well for her family. "I like the vacation being spread out throughout the year," she said, adding that her children are better rested and more energized in November and December, a time of year when sick days and fatigue are common in the traditional school calendar. And, far from complaining when it comes time to return to school in August, Regan says her children are happy to go.

"By the end of the summer my kids are itching to get back and are bored from being around the house all summer long."

Having shorter periods between holidays is one of the advantages of the system. It keeps students' minds more focused, helping them to learn better and absorb more information when they are in school. And, crucially, it improves retention of what they have learned the year before.

Research has found that after six weeks, students have a difficult time retaining what they learned the year before. Which explains why so much time at the beginning of the school year must be devoted to review.

Retention is a bigger problem for students who don't get extra enrichment -- in the form of books, trips to museums, games, camps, conversation and other stimulation -- during the summer. These students, who tend to start school less prepared than others, may begin to catch up during each school year, but lose even more ground during summer holidays. Eventually, the gap becomes too big to close.

Which raises the question: If the balanced school year improves learning and tends to make students feel more energetic and refreshed during the year, why aren't more schools doing it?

The simple answer is that people don't like change. Two months off during July and August is how schooling has always been done and many people have great memories of endless summer days spent hunting for frogs and counting clouds.

The problem is that those days -- like farm life -- no longer exist for most Canadians. Most children do not spend the summer catching up on play time, but are slotted into a series of summer camps that amount to a slightly less rigorous version of the school day with beach towels and crafts thrown in, while their parents work.

A balanced school year fits in better with most parents' work and vacation schedules, allowing periods for family vacations throughout the year. It just makes sense.

Most of us don't live on farms so maybe our lives shouldn't revolve around them.