What pleasure equals that of vacationing in summer?

 

Students all over the world work hard in school terms. It is no wonder that they jump at the idea of holiday. The summer holiday is especially pleasurable, long and free. Some guys might ask why the students should have such a long holiday. In my school some guys suggest that the students should continue to come to school in the holiday, for they think the longer the students stay in school, the better they will perform academically.

 

I ask them, "Is academic performance everything to a student in the world?" Their answer is "Yes". I am afraid that my answer is "NO".

 

The exam-orientated education has driven some of us crazy. In our eyes there is only grade, grade, and grade. It is a shame. I wonder how a student’s exam grade would help him/her in the life course. I wonder how the grade would guide him/her through the coming challenging life maze. Of course a high grade CAN send a student into a first-class university. But is that all?

 

Besides the experience in school, the students should and must have opportunities to go and touch society and nature. Schooling, I am sure, makes up only part of a person’s experience. Our ultimate goal is being part of the society we are in and being able to function in it. Here is where the summer vacation plays a very important role.

 

In the summer vacation, the students can do anything or nothing. The recess from school work enables them to taste social life better. They have eyes, ears, and brains. They will look, watch and think. If they please, they can even do something that is more closely connected with surviving in the world—-helping the parents with the farm work, taking a part-time job, traveling around the country or the world, being a volunteer or simply indulging themselves in the world of books. Their holiday experience makes them more mature and appreciate their schooling better.

 

Even doing nothing at all helps. I recall my summer holidays as a boy. To be honest, there was little exciting to do in the country. My world then was the village and the surrounding hills and lands. There were many lonely long days when I felt bored to death. Of course there was something to do occasionally with boyhood friends. On hot days we bathed in the small river, not big at all. We sometimes stole the baby birds from a nest, making the mother cry sadly for several long days. Or we could travel into the nearby villages and find out whether guys there lived the same way as we did. We wondered if they ate the same meals as we did… After all these things there were long, boring days. I recall these boring days made my young mind work, thinking about my future.

 

Dear friends, enjoy your holiday. If you like, come and share with us your holiday experiences, good or bad.