It’s that time of year again, the final break we have until the end of the semester and academic school year. Most envision spring break as a long, relaxing step away from university, a time in which one can sit back and slow down on life (and school) for a bit.
This, however, could not be further from the truth, according to some members of the student body. Sure, any break time is nice, but a week out of university hardly constitutes a true time off, especially when one has weeks’ worth of homework and projects to work on, as well as exams. Compared to winter break, which gave us five weeks off – almost six when factoring in the snow delays – spring break pales in comparison. Some students believe that the mere week long time off does offer a brief moment of fresh air, but simply serves as a distraction from academic responsibilities only to rear its ugly head back in full force once spring break is over.
Adam Afilaka, a freshman chemical engineering major, remains particularly disappointed with the short length of spring break. “With the amount of work, assignments and exams, a long break is something that everyone needs,” Afilaka said. “It seems kind of crazy to give us students so much work over the course of the semester, throw in a little break in the middle, thus getting us out of our good study habits, only to get right back into the grind all over again.”
The short break is not the only complaint students have. Spring break also marks the middle mark of the semester, meaning an abundance of work and exams, especially because of the snow days which set the semester back almost a week.
Sam Reiser, a freshman mechanical engineering major, notes that because of spring break, more and more assignments have been piling up. “I have had a bunch of exams and tests over the past few weeks and I’ll have a bunch more once I get back from break as well,” said Reiser. “Even though a longer break would probably mean more work in the long run, at least I would be able to enjoy myself for a bit longer before I have to come back and face all the work that’ll be waiting for me,” Reiser continued.
A longer spring break would help alleviate stress and reduce the pressure on students. The way it is right now, next week feels like a tease rather than a full on break. Maybe we would benefit from having one week fewer during winter break and an extra week in spring break. However, due to winter session, this will most likely never happen.
