Should teachers assign homework over the summer?

Want to take the fun out of learning? Put a grade on it. Require it to be done. Compare results between students. Make them do an assignment that means NOTHING to them and does not apply in their life at that time. They get that most of the year. Let them learn something they enjoy over vacation. Sure, give them a list of suggested reading, websites or, for pity's sake, give them directions on how to build a box, paper or otherwise, showing them how Geometry is useful.

But PLEASE do not make what one or more teachers think(s) is important the center of a students summer. How will a student find the thing they do best if they are always doing what everyone else thinks is best?

I think Summer is a great time for students to engage in other formative activities, such as athletics, travelling or visiting with friends and family. Each summer break is a unique, limited time of the year when students do not have to worry about studying. Perhaps a very light assignment in the form of a challenge is okay. For example, offer a special prize upon returning to class for the student who read a classic or who wants to report on a book they read during the summer. Equally simple: when classes reconvene after the break, a first task can be "What did you read", or "How you spent your summer".

Any formal assignment over the summer may detract from the many other enriching opportunities our students face.

Summer Reading will help students retain some of the strategies they have learned during the school year. If parents use the summer to take kids outdoors, swimming, fishing, hiking, aquariums, zoos, etc. learning can be constructive not assigned.Sad thing is too many hours are spent inside watching a TV or playing video games.

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Finally, someone with some common sense.

Getting fit is great in theory, but the reality is most of kids do stay in and spend too much time using electronics.

A small amount of summer work is preparing them for high school, college and the real world.

I am all for children enjoying their childhood but a small amount of homework will still allow for plenty of leisure time.

Ideally, a child should be outside all day in the summer and this will still leave time for a small amount of summer work.

Summer work does not have to be excessive, it could be 15 min. a day plus a few good books.

It may be your experience that teachers with poor management skills are the only ones that assign homework, however it has not been mine. What about private schools that have some of the best teachers, that assign summer work? I think it is narrow minded to say teachers with management problems assign summer work, maybe these teachers feel strongly about summer work?
I think excessive work is ridiculous but it is important for children to have some discipline, routine and structured work during the summer.
I have found that 15 min. a day is enough for them to be ahead of the other students in the fall, as well as feel good about themselves. We also do plenty of other learning, including museums, outdoors, etc..

I think summer work, if done properly, can boost self esteem, as well as reinforce necessary skills from the previous school year.

When I was teaching, I used to think summer work was excessive and never assigned it for my students. Now, with my own kids, I think it is important and necessary. If I went back to teaching, I would advocate for summer work.

I really feel that Americans focus too much on pleasure and leisure and not enough on education! I am not advocating for the extreme like in some Asian countries where kids are so weighed down, but more structure and discipline is necessary.

Wow, you shouldn't be teaching. First of all, peer correction is an entirely different issue than summer homework. Teachers use this method as a way to teach children how to correct errors, as well as delegating. As any manager would tell you, (a teacher is a manager) it is impossible to do EVERYTHING. If teachers corrected all the papers themselves, they would not have time for planning, evaluating or their family! It is hardly fair to say they are lazy because they teach children how to correct other children's papers.

Secondly, the idea of sending home summer work is to reinforce skills not to introduce new material. Therefore, it is not really necessary for the teachers to be accessible during the summer. The parents can help their children do 15 min. homework a day.

I hope my kids never get you as a teacher.

I completely disagree. Classroom management is a completely separate issue. I highly doubt those teachers are assigning homework throughout the summer because they have problems covering everything because of classroom management issues.
They probably know the importance of reinforcing skills, so the teacher the following year doesn't have to teach old material for 6 weeks to refresh children of the skills learned previously.
I agree with this teacher that the children should be spending more time with their families and investigating other interests. However, what if families don't encourage this type of learning or provide opportunities for learning?
It can only help to have 15 min of work reinforcing skills and providing a structured, disciplined environment for children. There is no reason why children can't do both.
Let's start expecting more of our children.

Freshman, sophomore and junior years in high school I was forced to read a book for my lit class each summer and write an analytical paper and these assignments made absolutely no sense to me. It was always the monkey on our backs and it's honestly a waste of time because no one forgets grammar and syntax after only 2 and a half months. I go to a prestigious high school and the majority of the students just wait until a week or even the night before school starts to look up their asigned book on sparknotes b.s. the paper and still get a 100. Honestly we don't really do the assignments so why try and stress our summer with them.
This year I'm a senior and summer assignments have gone completely overboard, instead of giving us a break to look into what colleges we'd like to attend and different scholarships all senior lit classes have been assigned 3 books and an essay, and any AP classes are sure to have their own assignments. I have to read a total of 5 books(one in spanish), 10 spanish poems, 2 spanish dramas, 3 spanish journals, and 2 papers one of which is in spanish. it's almost august and I don't actrually know anyone who's started on the homework and some people have even more than I do.
Summer should be a time where students should be able to have fun NOT to do homework!

@Carol- I really agree with your statement that it should be a joy of reading that we instill with our kids that does extend beyond 140 characters. Reading should not be a chore-think back to when we were in college? Expose your student to what THEY are interested in. If they like cars, take them to a antique road show, get books about cars, maybe take them to a garage and have them shadow. It's just like trying to get kids to eat their veggies; you need to disguise the fact that they are actually learning.