Down with long school summer breaks

summers of two sets of Viborg youngsters. Those from the Danish city of that name (pronounced VEE-bohr), the charming historic capital of the Jutland peninsula, are now three weeks into their end-of-year holidays—and will be back in school by early August, just three more weeks away. How cruel that must seem to their distant cousins in Viborg, South Dakota (pronounced VYE-burg), settled by Scandinavians in the 1860s. The pupils at Viborg-Hurley High, home of the Cougars, won’t have to think of textbooks and detentions until a week before September. That will be a full 13 weeks since they broke up in late May. Europeans suffer from—or enjoy—a reputation for leisure and plentiful holidays. This is well deserved for adults, many of whom will soon be turning on their out-of-office messages for weeks on end. Children are not always so lucky, relatively speaking. An axis of countries running through Europe, including Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and bits of Switzerland, have some of the rich world’s shortest school breaks. Others, for example in France, Portugal and Sweden, have holidays to rival America’s. Pupils may not like it much, but more time spent in the classroom is good for them. It also has desirable consequences for their parents and society as a whole.