I promise I won’t routinely spin off from substack columns, but when Freddie DeBoer asked his readers what the best configuration for a 4-day work week would be, I was really surprised that no one at all said yeah, not buying, thanks. I’m not judging, or taking up David Bahnsen’s cause. But so many people in the thread, at least, had really thought out the weekend and clearly hated Sunday because the next day was work, had serious conversations about whether or not breaking up the week with a day off on Wednesday was preferable for the psychological break from work demands, or was a three day weekend obviously superior for the ability to take a short vacation, or have one day for errands and two day for play.
I….do not have such thoughts. I don’t want a four day work week–which may not be a moot point, as it appears to be a developing trend in k-12 schools. I’ve always enjoyed my work life and, if I don’t, I get out very quickly. Quite recently I learned of changes that would have some seriously negative ramifications on my work life. I asked for consideration, was denied , and switched jobs. The entire process–learning, negotiating, interviewing for new work and leaving–took exactly two weeks. Proving once again I’m a very easy-going and reliable employee on most things who can often be persuaded to take a beat and rethink a complaint, but once I’ve decided otherwise, I’m fucking gone.
My working life: standard corporate employee world, mostly 8-5 but flexible hours, unlimited sick leave, time shifting, come in and work in the middle of the night or weekends if necessary. Followed by a long time as a consultant working in standard corporate employee world, mostly 8-5 but flexible hours, high wage, short contracts (usually six weeks to 4 months), work whenever but paid for every hour. Lots of time off. I calculated it a couple times: on average, I worked 25 hours a week over a year and made low six figures. Great for raising a kid as a single parent. Then an odd career shift to private tutor and test prep instructor. School year hours were 4-9 and weekends 10-7. Summers were 8-5 and weekends too. Usually was able to take two weeks at Christmas. Big cut in income but hey, it was cash. On paper $40-50K. Sometimes just 12-15 hours a week, other times 60. It was fun.
Now, I’m a teacher. Fixed hours the school day, but I work a lot of hours outside that by choice. Great vacation, low six figure income again,, slightly more than I was making in the 90s but adjusted for inflation closer to 80%. Way better benefits. I pay my own medical insurance, choosing the one offered by the district, but it’s great insurance.
At no point in my life did I ever think wow, more time off would be nice. I wasn’t even good at vacation until the internet allowed me to research and….well, not so much plan as come up with interesting options.
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Nine years ago, I wrote that the sybaritic vacation schedule granted teachers was corrupting. At first, I was shocked to be granted 12 days throughout the school year to use as needed and that ten of them accrued without limit. All those holidays, a week at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, and yet another week in the spring?
It took three years for me to decide 8 weeks of private summer school was more work than I wanted during summer break, so abandoning my objections to public summer school (6 weeks and a higher hourly rate), I taught five years in person and two years on zoom.
Originally, I planned on taking an entire summer off for my tenth anniversary of teaching in 2019, but that year turned out to be financially brutal even before I played the part of mark in a scam, so I took the extra money. The next two years were pandemic zoom summer school. In 2021, I had a wonderful summer traveling everywhere while teaching remotely and decided to end on a high note. No more summer school. Couldn’t get any better than logging in from a Gettysburg Starbucks after visiting the park in the morning and returning at the end of the day.
And I kept that vow for two years. No, of course I didn’t take the summer off entirely. Haven’t you been paying attention? No plans means an administrator will hunt me down and beg me to teach summer school, and if I have no plans they will hound me until I say yes. I’m cranky and comfortable with disapproval, but I was raised by a weirdly Catholic mother, and guilt works.
I found some highly paid internships that kept me amused. It was a great break. First summers I ever didn’t teach. But alas, all fun things end.
And so the summer of 2024. I couldn’t find any interesting research jobs this year and the summer school email letter was….interesting. Summer school employment is 3000 minutes. In earlier years, they spread that out over four 4 day weeks and two 3 day weeks. But due to teacher shortages, they’ve upped the pay, covered prep time at the same rate, and crunched it into three five day weeks and two three day weeks. Everyone’s done by early July. This year’s principal, recently the union president, knows how to appeal to teachers and included the exact payment.
Huh.
Given all the upheaval in my life this year, I wasn’t sure this was the summer to take off. A month of work? A week off before and a month off afterwards? I applied, but heard nothing.
By May, I shrugged. OK. This is it. This is the summer I won’t work! To celebrate, I told my brother to grab a week in June, the second week of summer school. Our relatives in another state aren’t getting any younger and comes a time soon when there won’t be any family in my dad and mom’s home towns to visit, so let’s make the trip.
And sure enough, just one week after I booked the flights, who should come calling but the high school summer school principal. And she let me have the whole week off to visit relatives.
My summer work schedule therefore would be a week of work, a week off, another week of work, two three day work weeks, done.
I did it.
Inches from a clean getaway.
Taught last week and am writing this while on the plane taking me to see various relatives who have been part of my life since birth to tell them how much I love having them around.
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So you can see why I am perplexed by a hundred or more people getting all worked up about which day they’d take off in a world with a four-day work week.
But who knows. Man, I have plans this summer.
I’ve gone from 8 weeks of summer work to 6 weeks to 5 weeks to now just 16 days of work.
16 days. I counted up all the work days in our summer break. There are 49.
I am working less than a third of summer! Whoo.
Maybe next year I’ll take the whole 49.
educationrealist 
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