With Thanksgiving break fast approaching, students and faculty rush to make deadlines, make travel plans and make room for food. While the latter isn’t so bad, could the semester afford to lose a day or two to help us out with the others? Many students would like to think this break could be just a bit longer.
Noah Wheeler, a senior psychology major, could definitely use a travel day before Thanksgiving. “My family deals with it every year,” said Wheeler. “We’re constantly leaving Wednesday night after the school day for an eight-hour drive overnight to make it for Thanksgiving.”
He knows he’s not alone in the struggle that is holiday travel. “I think because we have a diverse student body, we should have the whole week off so people have time to coordinate travel plans,” said Wheeler. “We have a lot of kids with families out-of-state and it would be a lot easier for them with more time off.”
A few luckier students have already been given that extra time by professors. “My Wednesday class is already cancelled,” said Leanne Windsor, a freshman pre-nursing major and Spanish minor. “Other sections who have class on Thursdays and Fridays won’t get to have it over break so it’s not fair for us to have that extra class. Pretty convenient for me.”
Noah Dannis, a junior financial economics major, has a similar situation. “A lot of professors make decisions to cancel, but I guess it is inconvenient for the ones who don’t,” said Dannis. “Especially since the ones who don’t will have half their class missing anyway, or a bunch of kids who don’t want to be there.”
“Classes should end at 1 p.m. or a half day or something at least,” said Laura Baron, a senior geography major. “That would be helpful for travel plans and is at least some form of compromise between students and professors.”
Margo Whitesell, a sophomore Spanish major, could also use that extra day to avoid traveling only on Thanksgiving Day. “I do think it should be longer because students skip class on Wednesday so teachers actually have to reiterate, ‘Yes, we are having class Wednesday,’” said Whitesell. “So students are still skipping class or professors aren’t giving the expectation to focus those days before break. It’s an unfair expectation to make if students have to travel.”
With the various travel plans and family situations our student body is a part of, is the short Thanksgiving break really sufficient time for arrangements? Don’t faculty and staff want that extra time with their families as well? The students have spoken and they’ll give thanks when they’re given a break.
