My mom is a teacher. This has affected my perspective of the world.
Because my mom was home during the summer, I was constantly forgetting that other people's parents still had to work. Working year-round seemed like such a bum deal. Poor grown-ups.
Being a grown-up myself now, and not having had a summer completely free of responsibilities since that one between high school and college, I still find working during the summer an incredibly unfair concept.
One of many weird things about grad school is that you are a functioning, bill-paying, in many cases married, in some cases child-raising, adult, yet here you are schlepping books around a college campus, drinking soft drinks like they're going out of style, and counting the days til the next break. Still, you'd think that whole adulthood and working year round thing would make taking summer classes seem reasonable, wouldn't you?
No, you wouldn't. Summer school SUCKS.
For one thing, Tennessee is in the middle of a massive heat wave. And not only does walking from the nearest parking area to the social work building drench you in sweat, but the AC in said building is mediocre at best.
For another thing, it is an entire semester's worth of information crammed into an abbreviated time period-- in the case of a half-term class, five measly little weeks. And yet, that doesn't mean they scale back on assignments. They just pile them right on top of each other. Sleep? Who needs it.
The only thing keeping my comrades and I sane is the ability to laugh at our predicaments. Talking each other down from the ledge with armloads full of frappuccinos and Starburst.
That's another funny thing about summer school: there is an excessive amount of Starburst. Each day during class, we pass around the giant bags, because there's no way we're getting through it without a sugar rush. Other candies and chocolate bars make appearances, but Starburst, for some unknown reason, is the most frequent preferred sugar source of overworked summer school students. I have eaten more Starburst this summer than I have ever eaten in my life.
And now, back to the books.
