As we move into the second half of the fall semester, it is a good time to take a moment and think about where we are and where we want to be – both as students and as a community. Looking back at the past few weeks, it is hard not to feel both a sense of accomplishment and a sense of exhaustion after two months straight of school, and all that comes with it.
To that end, many of us share the feelings of being tired and burned out after the late nights studying for midterms and writing papers, not to mention planning the many events held in the past few weeks. There is a clear solution here: GW needs a fall break.
Last year, fellow Hatchet columnist Tom Braslavsky made a case for GW to join Georgetown, American, Howard and seven of the eight Ivy League universities in this country by scheduling a fall break for students. After thinking about what we have done this semester, and the many things that each of us has left to do, now is the time to contemplate and expand on Braslavsky’s call for GW to seriously consider a fall break.
The case for a fall break at GW seems selfish at first. After all, why should our parents pay for us to go to one of the most expensive schools in the country only to have us receive extra time off? Why lose class days that need to be made up in December? Don’t reading days before finals make more sense?
While these questions have some level of legitimacy, a fall break would provide students with a chance to recharge after two months of class and weeks of midterm papers and exams. When looking at the need for a fall break and at the current GW fall schedule, here is what I propose as the most logical solution:
GW should create a four-day fall break that consists of giving the first two days after the last weekend in October off – essentially an extended weekend. To supplement this, GW should direct faculty to schedule midterm exams and papers during the two weeks preceding this time off, creating a period between midterms and finals that allows students to rest, recharge and prepare for the work ahead. The timing of such a break would also allow the many politically active students of GW to fully participate in elections by giving them the all-important final weekend before Election Day to work on Get Out the Vote efforts in neighboring states, while not having to sacrifice class time or falling behind on school work.
In his argument for a fall break, Braslavsky noted the challenge of the current schedule, saying that “every year in mid-October, while midterms are still going on, students are expected to host their parents for a weekend.” If GW wants to create the best possible schedule for students, the University should move Colonials Weekend to the first weekend of October and add fall break to the end of the month. This would allow students to truly enjoy parents weekend by not having the added stress of midterms that start as soon as parents leave. It would also provide students with a break to return home to see family a month later. GW’s fall break could ultimately serve as a way to improve student temperament and better the quality of Colonials Weekend by removing the additional anxiety that midterms bring during the middle of October.
Though much has been accomplished in the first half of fall 2010, the administration should strongly consider opening the discussion of adding a fall break. This calendar change would pave the way for a better rested and more productive student body during the stress-filled November and December months that lie ahead.
-The writer, a senior majoring in political science, is a Hatchet columnist.
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