Please don’t get me wrong, I like days off from school. Scratch that. I LOVE days off from school.
This year in particular, we have the longest possible December break, a February break, and an April break. Let’s also take into account snow days that could happen at any time and the long weekend created by the end of midterms and Martin Luther King Jr day.
Whether spending this time on vacations, college visits, or just staying around in Westport, students (including me) could not be more ecstatic to have some time off from the stressful environment that Staples can create.
However, I tend to feel that these breaks can cause my grades and work ethic to take a tumble. Being a student who thrives on continuity and routine, these days off provide interruption that take me out of my daily routines that I had become so used to.
During these breaks, even if it’s one day off, I get into a new routine that involves very little schoolwork. When I get back to school, I find myself stuck in these tendencies.
Procrastinating and not working as hard as if I was on vacation, I see my grades take a dip.
Even worse is when these breaks occur during the middle of unit in a specific class. Forgetting all of the material that I learned before the break, I come back to class with little to no knowledge of the unit and find myself really confused, constantly trying to catch up.
I’m not saying we should get rid of breaks, in fact more time off from school would be welcomed. However, as a possible solution, I propose to increase the duration of vacations but have less of them throughout the year.
