With the rising cost of day care and summer camp, many schools are feeling pressure to shorten summer breaks. But the cost of extending the school year by just one day is $1 billion to $1.5 billion. For students, already overbooked during the school year with extracurriculars and homework, summer may be thier last refuge. And what about the teachers?

Professor Lucy Calkins said, "We're seeing exhaustion in the profession like never before. It used to be that kids would leave school at 3 p.m. and teachers would chat in the faculty room. Now the kids never leave."

This article appeared in the July 31st edition of Time.com

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001