Unlike a Diamond Beach spouter, I have a hard time blaming a summer vacation from school as a cause for our kids' low test scores. We had the same summers off, with kids playing ball, swimming in lakes and the ocean, etc., when we had the world's highest test scores. But once kids spent the full day in school, did homework and didn't have tons of days off for faculty development. School was hard, and kids who didn't do well got bad grades. We were a tough nation with a tough, disciplined school system; and all summer to blow off steam and exercise.