Issue date: 6/1/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Martin Wood [Click to enlarge]

The spring semester is finally over. Students all over the greater Sacramento region are sighing in relief. Sixteen weeks of grueling labor in the classroom have finally paid off, and we are rewarded with three months of freedom. Three months of freedom that for most will mean triple-digit temperatures, work and worst of all, summer school.

It is hot, sticky, suffocating and endless. Frankly, it is the worst time of the year. It is full of awkward tan lines, sunburns, nude beaches full of people who shouldn't be nude, broken air conditioners and high gas prices. Summer's only redeeming quality is the lack of school. Though for a lucky few, this has been ruined with summer school, which is otherwise known as the worst eight weeks out of the worst three months in the year.

So where did this most treacherous and vile time of year come from? According to a June 18, 2008, TIME Magazine article, summer vacation didn't always exist. In the time before the Civil War, schools operated on one of two schedules. Neither of those schedules contained a summer break. Rural children went to school during the winter and summer, leaving them able to help with spring planting and fall harvests. The other schedule had urban children going to school as much as 48 weeks out of the year, with one break per quarter.

Students now, however, do enjoy a much longer summer break than their predecessors.

Khazei Bauer, junior sociology major, doesn't have a lot of complaints about this vacation from school either.

"I love summer because I get to tan and swim and wear cute summer clothes," Bauer said. "Sometimes it does get a little too hot, but random summer adventures are way too much fun to let the heat bother you."

One adventure I am willing to take in the summer is going to the movies. They're air-conditioned, dark and a lot of fun when the alternative is horrible television reruns. Cinematic blockbusters are coming out left and right as well with new additions to the "Transformers," "Harry Potter" and "Terminator" franchises. New classics like Disney's "Up" and Spike Jonze's new movie, "Where the Wild Things Are" provide a relief to the dog days of summer as well.

Another way to avoid the heat is to go swimming. There is nothing quite as refreshing as jumping into a cool, pristine swimming pool in the luxury of your own backyard. That is, of course, if you have your own pool, or at least know someone who does. Maybe even a public pool is worth searching for because the closest alternatives to that are the American and Sacramento rivers. Swim in a clean inviting pool or the disgusting, brown, mosquito-infested drainage pipes of the central valley that are our rivers; it's your choice.

The second closest alternative would be Folsom Lake. While I would take the lake over either of the rivers any day, it still presents some cons. If you didn't get enough of the annoying, obnoxious, beer-drinking frat guys during the course of the school year, the lake is the place to go. Try to avoid killing too many brain cells though; you may need some once school starts back up.

The main reason I hate the summer is the heat. It pretty much ranges from unbearable to wanting to shoot myself in the face. Some people may argue that they prefer being hot to being cold, but in the cold you can always put more clothes on! There's only so many things you can take off in the heat, and some people should really keep their clothes on.

But maybe I should be more grateful for my summer hiatus. I only really go to school 32 weeks out of the year, and even then it's not like I'm always paying attention. A lot of the time I may be daydreaming about the weekend or how I can't wait for summer break to start. It is true, I do hate summer, but between that and school, it is by far the lesser of two evils. I can't wait for summer to start, yet I can't stand any minute of it.

Matt Rascher can be reached at mrascher@statehornet.com.

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