Summer Time Homework?

The New York Times had an op-ed today (subscription may be required) decrying the increasing amounts of summer homework that students are being assigned. At some schools students are assigned several books to read, reports to write and other assignments designed to keep them learning over the summer.

There are several sides to this issue of course. On the school side are a lot of studies that show that students forget a lot over the summer because of "lack of practice" for want of a better term. Much of September is spent on review of things that students knew in June but can't seem to remember in September. There is also the issue of there not being enough time in the regular school year to cover everything. With high stakes standardized tests becoming more and more important it seems difficult to fit everything in.

But at the same time where is the play time? Where is the freedom to invent games and activities? Where is the rest and recover time for a young mind? And the most telling question in my mind, when is there time to read for fun?

Reading for fun drops off sharply after age 8. One observation I have made, not scientific really, is that reading ability seems to go way up the more a person reads for fun. Are we hurting reading ability with too much assigned reading? I remember having assigned summer reading when I was in middle school and high school. It was a chore. Not so much because the books were not interesting but because I had no choice on what to read. Might we not be better off telling kids to find something fun to read on their own over the summer?