Whats the authors main purpose? Public schools should put an end to long summer vacations and replace them with short, two-week vacations throughout the year. Over the summer, kids forget most of what they have learned, so teachers have to waste half of the next year reviewing before teaching anything new. If vacations were shorter, kids would not forget as much. They could spend more school time learning new things. Besides, long summer vacations are boring, and most kids end up getting into trouble.