There are always a few weeks during the academic year when stress levels skyrocket. An obvious time is reading periods and exam weeks. However, the #midtermszn mindset is real. For Hamilton, midterms hit around Fall Break. Students are either slammed in the three days leading up to break or in the week following. I was in the former scenario this year, with three, 90-minute or longer exams within 36 hours. Was I stressed? Yes. Would I have preferred any of my exams to have been moved back to after break or even extended to the Saturday of break? Absolutely not. I did not envy any of my friends who left for break and a fun weekend knowing the shoe was still waiting to drop the upcoming week.
I owe my professors a quick thanks for realizing Fall Break is meant to be exactly that — a break. A break from work is definitely needed at this point in the year, as the stretch from classes starting in mid-August to Fall Break is the longest time without a break during the academic year. Classes are picking up, grades are accumulating, stress is mounting, and the summer (along with warmth and sunlight) is definitely gone. All this, and when the break that students and faculty look forward to is suddenly crossed out and replaced by scrawling To-Do lists with assignments to turn in or exams to study for, it loses its purpose entirely.
Any professor who assigns substantial work over break needs to reevaluate doing so. By substantial, I mean any type of work that requires more than two hours of students’ time. For example, a professor scheduling a test for the Monday after break, or assigning a major component of a bigger project to be due the Saturday of break. If the assignment is some vocabulary practice for a language class or a short reading and response, those assignments shouldn’t be met with pitchforks and torches. But the big assignments, the ones that induce stress in even the most relaxed students, shouldn’t be assigned over this so-called “break.”
Fall Break is needed. Seasonal affective depression (SAD) is real, and for those who suffer, I can only imagine a time like Fall Break is one of the last golden times before the cold, snow, and dreariness of upstate New York fully hits. SAD aside, anyone who thinks the second part of the semester is less stressful than the first should tell me what classes they’re taking so I can join, although it’s likely they’re lying.
Fall Break should not be a time when professors can assign substantial work or schedule exams less than 48 hours after returning to campus. A real break would allow students to relax and regroup before the pre-Thanksgiving push. One reason professors might assign work is they assume other professors are nicer, or their own class is more intense, and thus assign work feeling that it is reasonable. If all professors think this, though, students suddenly have four courses pilling on readings, exams, and research work to be completed during break. By making a “no-work assigned, no exam/paper due within 48 hour after break” rule, students’ mental health could have a brief hiatus from unnecessary stress.
Were things run more like I’ve proposed, professors could also have a real break. I really see no losing side of the College implementing a policy like this. The only legitimate argument I feel the administration could have would be that it lowers Hamilton’s intellectual standards. However, I wholly disagree. Some students think they are meant to be going 100 percent, 24/7, but many students are not and burn out. If students are beginning to burn out this early in the semester, grades will likely drop. At this point in the semester, the grades from here on out often count for more, which means doing poorly is going to negatively affect a student’s GPA.
If GPAs dip across the board, Hamilton’s academic standing is not going to look so good for any potential employers of these students. And while I admit this could be construed as hyperbole, the sentiment is real. No matter how engaged students are with a subject, if they are feeling burned out, their brain will be unable to process or engage as much as they want to or as much as the professors require. So again, I see no down-side of giving Fall Break a “no substantial work, no exam/paper due 48 hours after break” policy.
