The Perils of Summer Holiday Homework

As I sit down to write this blog, a number of things rush through my mind. When I was younger I always anticipated summer, not because I enjoyed the soaring 45 degree temperature and high humidity in my city, but because I eagerly looked forward to my summer vacation. A month and a half of beatific and mirthful time. Endless hours spent in front of the television, nights I spent at my grandmother’s, sleeping until late in the mornings, and letting my mother worry about the holiday homework I was supposed to do.However, now I wish exactly the opposite of that. I can’t wait for my summer-so-called-vacations to get over. Why? Well, first and foremost HOLIDAY HOMEWORK. I understand the need to keep students abreast with what they’ve learnt in school – and maybe it sounds, by and large, logical and rational. However, is it so necessary that they give us holiday homework which is not entirely justifiable? Along with 2 chapters worth of math sums to solve, we’re supposed to be in McDonalds tallying the amount of fries they sell. This is downright outrageous and sadly irrelevant to all subjects!So while high school students worry about meeting the stringent deadlines of these projects, many people have found a money minting business in it – actually taking on the completion of the projects for the kids for a couple of thousand rupees. Is this what schools are trying to instill in students? That the work they give is not something we might need to put our minds to – that actually leads to creative thinking and assimilation of knowledge – but simply delegating off our work to others for which we have no accretion to our real  learning process. Rather, it leads only to fulfillment of an obligation.What also makes the summer holidays dreadful is the fact that we have tests right when school re-opens – and if you want good grades obviously you need to study. Hard.Aren’t summer holidays meant for us to be travelling around the globe experiencing different cultures and diverse people beyond our own small little world? How is this possible when a heavy cloud floats above your head saying  you cannot be frivolous with your time, and need to get back to spending hours copying things you haven’t understood. Or at least try to finish one of the four chapters you have coming up in your science paper.I thought that these vacations were meant to be a break – hence summer break. It’s supposed to be a time when we get to put down our heavy school satchels, and instead finally get to give some time for sports or other extra-curricular activities. I feel as if today schools put more emphasis on academics than sports and extra-curricular activities. In school we are taught the famous ‘all work and no play makes jack a dull boy’. Is it not important to practice what one preaches? And if I don’t even get my “free time” off to do something productive like this, then when can I?During the summer holiday, I wake up early in the morning to go for my swimming practice, after which I have tuitions, then holiday homework, and then I study for my tests. It’s not the summer vacation I envisioned – lying by the pool, sipping a drink with an umbrella in it!. But then again, if I don’t do this now then when will I? Maybe I never get a chance to. So I guess it’s better to slog it out now and then spend the rest of my days carefree.Nanki Singh is a Class 10 student at Modern School Vasant Vihar in New Delhi. She loves reading, writing, photography – and holds a Senior Diploma in Indian Classical Vocal Music. She’s also a swimmer and a track & field athlete in her spare time!