It's a comical public discussion going on presently within the sixteen German states....over school vacation periods. For those who don't realize it.....individual German states (not the federal bureaucracy) determine when school 'years' begin and end. Some states start the vacation in mid-June....some in early-August.
The reason why the differing holiday period exist? Some of this goes back to the 1960s and 1970s....where massive traffic existed on the German autobahn system, and it simply made sense to 'chop' these into differing periods.
So two German states have made a big deal out of this....that all school vacation periods should be identical (the states of Hamburg and Berlin). Why the big emphasis? That's one of the odd parts of the discussion....because no one challenges the two major cities to explain their logic. Both currently start their period during the last week of June, with kids back in school by the first week of August.
I noticed this week that the argument (now going on for the third month) has yet to be settled, and the two states pushing the agenda have yet to drop the subject (both oddly run by the SPD and Green Party apparatus).
The big reason why Bavaria likes the current structure? One of the discussion topics is the Bavaria-only state holiday school....with particular Catholic 'dates' in the mix....which work better with the late summer planning system.
If all sixteen states did have the same schedule? You would see a massive traffic issue on the autobahns, and airports in chaos trying to get people to summer vacation destinations. My own personal belief is that this would last one single year, with everyone whining about the failures, and reverting back to the old school schedule.
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