Time Magazine Covers: For And Against Summer Vacation?

A 2015 TIME magazine cover asking what happened to summer vacation has been compared against a 2010 cover making a case against summer vacation.

TIME Covers

The August 2, 2010 TIME cover featured an illustration of a boy tossing a rock into a pond, with the statement: The Case Against Summer Vacation. That cover has been compared side-by-side with the June 1, 2015 cover showing an empty beach and posing the question, “Who killed summer vacation?”

Both covers are real, and you can find them on TIME’s website: 2010 and 2015.

On the surface, it may appear that TIME has contradicted itself with the two statements. The articles themselves, however, highlight two different topics. The earlier article focuses on school-age children, while the later piece highlights working Americans.

The 2010 case against summer vacation asserts that the long summer break for school children does more harm than good. Boredom, isolation, inactivity, and a loss of knowledge acquired during the school year, referred to as “learning loss” are cited as negative consequences of the long break from school.

The 2015 piece which asks who killed summer vacation looks at reasons why working Americans take less vacation time every year. The article suggests that a majority of employees take less vacation time away from work because they are too overwhelmed when they return. It is also stated that the U.S. is the only developed nation which doesn’t have laws requiring paid holidays for workers.

Bottom Line

TIME magazine published two covers which seems to make a case against summer vacation, then asks who killed summer vacation. The topics addressed in these articles, however, are different. The 2010 article opines that extended summer breaks are detrimental for children in school, while the 2015 article asserts that American employees take less vacation time than in years past, and are not backed by laws requiring paid vacation time.

Updated March 15, 2016
Originally published May 2015