# Should the eclipe be a school holiday? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789 "2017-08-16T12:38:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/21 "2017-08-16T17:24:19Z")
If a kid cannot spell “eclipse”, they shouldn’t be missing any days. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/22 "2017-08-16T17:35:55Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > The school district in which my wife teaches has made the decision that it will be a regular school day, and students will be kept inside all afternoon. No outside recess that day, and any outside athletic practices are to be rescheduled. Students can watch the eclipse via “television broadcasts, webcasts, online streaming, etc.” In a sane world, the people who made that decision would go on trial for a crime against humanity. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/23 "2017-08-16T17:45:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In a sane world, the people who made that decision would go on trial for a crime against humanity. I rather incline to that view myself (although perhaps a bit less hyperbolically :)), but a quick bit of Googling shows several school districts around the country who are doing the same. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/24 "2017-08-16T18:13:24Z")
Given how early it in the school year it is, I’d call it a bye and let them have the day off. As mentioned, the science behind it can be explained in three minutes or less with a couple golf balls so doesn’t really feel like a unique educational moment so much as a (nearly) unique moment in general. Plus, this way it won’t be the school district’s fault if anyone sets their retinas on fire. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/25 "2017-08-16T18:29:38Z")
Schools usually get money per kid, per day. So each absence or holiday is money out of their wallet. So or course they’ve decided a once in a lifetime astronomical event is no big deal, school goes on. Nothing says you have to obey them though. Call off and keep your kid home. In 25 years, neither of you will remember what lesson or project you missed that day, but you’ll always remember the total eclipse. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/26 "2017-08-16T18:32:08Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I’m surprised you’re back in school already! Kids around here don’t go back until after Labor Day. Public schools started yesterday where I live. There are so many teachers’ conferences and such that they have to start in mid Aug or else go thru mid July. Hell, we even have “ski week” off here in addition to winer and spring breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/27 "2017-08-16T18:35:11Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In a sane world, the people who made that decision would go on trial for a crime against humanity. Worse than [this](http://www.btboces.org/Downloads/6_All%20Summer%20in%20a%20Day%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf), almost. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/28 "2017-08-16T19:19:37Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If a kid cannot spell “eclipse”, they shouldn’t be missing any days. Screw that. I don’t care if it’s a holiday or not. My kid (who is too young to spell “eclipse”) doesn’t start school until two days after the eclipse, so it’s a moot issue, but she wasn’t going to school regardless, as we’ve planned a trip to the eclipse zone. As I’ve said, it’s perhaps the coolest natural phenomenon I’ve ever experienced, and I would love to share this early memory with my daughter. (Well, daughters, but the other one definitely is too young to remember it.) And we’ll do the same damned thing seven years from now when it comes through in April 2024. Family trip, I don’t care what is on the school calendar. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/29 "2017-08-16T19:31:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Screw that. I don’t care if it’s a holiday or not. Hey, I’m on your side. I was just riffing on the typo in the thread title. When my son was in 4th grade, I took him on a cruise to Alaska. I had to get his teachers OK, which I assumed would be automatic, but it was far from that. At some point in our discussion I pointed out that we were going with or without her permission. She eventually acquiesced. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/30 "2017-08-16T19:50:31Z")
I’m in Kentucky, two or three hours (under normal conditions) away from totality, and school will be out on Monday. They’ll go to school sometime in late October instead. I’m amused that it took them until last week to make that decision, in part due to reactions from parents asking or telling that they are pulling their kids to see the eclipse. The tone of the article in the paper was kinda funny, because I’m not convinced that traffic will be as catastrophic a disaster as the administrator thought it might be, but, whatever . . . I’m not convinced that all districts affected need to make the same call, but to me, this is a good day to choose not to have school. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/31 "2017-08-16T19:50:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Hey, I’m on your side. I was just riffing on the typo in the thread title. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789/32 "2017-08-16T22:08:18Z")
They announced today that the local district is closed. Mrs. BD works there and said the closing was partly due to wanting to avoid any responsibility for little Billy burning his retina. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-eclipe-be-a-school-holiday/793789.md?page=1)