The start of another school year is just a couple of months away. The feeling of excitement being with friends again well up among the students. I know this to be true to most people but me. The first thing that comes to mind when I realize that school year is near is the difficulty of getting to school because of the rainy season.
Don’t get me wrong. I like rain – at least for the cool breeze that it brings. I also have nice childhood memories of the rainy season, e.g., running around the village with friends playing on pot holes and the gushing water along street gutters. In fact, between the summer and rainy seasons, I confess my preference over the latter. The only reason I appreciate summer is because of the fact that there are no classes. I don’t look forward to summer outings except for the bonding that results from it and the conversations at the beach about anything under the moon. Plus, I never really understood why we have to go swimming on summer. I’d always say, “If we wanted to quench the summer heat, why do it under the very same thing that makes it?”
Despite this rather unusual inclination to the rainy season, I have always wondered why the school year starts at the same period. It seems a bit odd that children are required to go to school when it is most dangerous for them to go out. As I see it, the school year should start on September and here are a few reasons why:
1. Rains make it difficult for students to go to school.
2. The welfare of students is more at risk during the rainy season than at summer.
3. Classes are more prone to suspension because of typhoons prevalent during the months of June to August.
4. In college, the second semester is divided by the Christmas break resulting in an awkward disruption of class schedule.
5. In law school, preparations for the bar will not get in the way of class schedule.
Of course, not everyone will agree with this. Some would say that the rainy season extends up to the month of October and there is no assurance that classes will not be suspended if it starts on September. Some would also argue that it will be more difficult for children to go to school and study on summer when the heat is stifling. Some would allege that we are just copying the system of US whose climate is entirely different from ours. Some are pessimistic that we will be hard pressed to change the academic year because it is deeply rooted in our culture. Some would even give the most trivial reason that swimming is a lot safer during summer than in rainy season.
First, I agree that starting the school year on September does not guarantee that no classes will be suspended due to typhoons. I believe though that the frequency of suspended classes will largely decrease. Since we cannot completely avoid the rainy reason, we might as well do something to diminish its unwanted effects on the academic system, i.e., suspension of classes.
Second, between the summer and rainy seasons, it is clear that the latter poses a more perilous situation for children. We live in a tropical country. As such, is it not right to assume that most, if not all, have better tolerance from heat than rain? If we think studying is more difficult for children during summer, then why do we enroll our children at summer camps or summer classes or both? Heat is stifling. Rain is dampening. So which is worse, leptospirosis or dehydration?
Third, why do we even have to care whether we are copying the US system or not? If something is good for the country and its citizens, does it make the initiative or change bad if the Americans thought of it first? We have to simply acknowledge that the current system is no longer beneficial to the country and accept the fact that change does not necessarily uproot the society from its culture.
Fourth, I think you will all agree with me that intellectual children are far more needed than better tanned ones.
