2008 Woodie Awards
Fall break would ease the course load
Melissa Johnson
Contributing Writer
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
It is late August, and classes have just begun. Summer was great, but it is time to hunker down because this is the semester for making good grades. So you make a game plan and before you know it, a couple of weeks pass by and things are looking good. As time flies, it gets harder and harder to stick with your strategy, but you trudge along and count the days until Thanksgiving break, but realize that it is still well over a month away. If only you could have a few days off from school in order to build up your stamina once again. Maybe a fall break right after midterms would do the trick.
Fall break is a relatively unknown term at the University of South Alabama. Students are only indirectly related to it by having heard it used by friends at neighboring universities and envying their coveted days of class-less bliss. Most commonly and strategically schedule for mid-semester, fall breaks occur at the most opportune time, allowing students to regroup themselves and prepare for the continuation of the semester following midterm examinations. However, USA students are not offered such a luxury.
I am taking 18 hours this semester, and sometimes feel that it never ends. Classes, homework and studying consume the majority of my weekdays, and I almost always have some essay to write or test to study for over the weekend. I use what little time I have during the weekend to catch up on missed sleep from the previous week, but when I am awake, I am worrying about school. I always feel if I had a couple of extra days without class, I could actually breathe, regroup and regain the focus I had at the beginning of the semester. Unfortunately, no such relief has been scheduled.
Why does South not have a fall break when so many other universities do? Southern Miss begins classes two days after South, gets a two-day fall break in the middle of October and still ends the semester only a day later than South. Other regional schools include the U. of Alabama, LSU, U. of Georgia, U. of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, which has the exact same academic calendar as USA, and each of them have at least a two day fall break. It seems a bit obvious, for no other reason than fitting in, that USA should be added to the list.
Fall semester, as it exists right now, is pretty much a straight run without reprieve. Ok, so we get a day off for Labor Day and three for Thanksgiving, but those break periods have major faults. The former occurs only a week or two into the semester, a break which is not really needed, though appreciated, and the latter generally involves traveling and family obligations, so there is no real time for rest. Classes get overwhelming, and students need some down time. If nothing else, a fall break would act as a literal pause in the middle of the term in order for students to really evaluate what he or she needs to do to pull up those straggling grades.
Fall break is a relatively unknown term at the University of South Alabama. Students are only indirectly related to it by having heard it used by friends at neighboring universities and envying their coveted days of class-less bliss. Most commonly and strategically schedule for mid-semester, fall breaks occur at the most opportune time, allowing students to regroup themselves and prepare for the continuation of the semester following midterm examinations. However, USA students are not offered such a luxury.
I am taking 18 hours this semester, and sometimes feel that it never ends. Classes, homework and studying consume the majority of my weekdays, and I almost always have some essay to write or test to study for over the weekend. I use what little time I have during the weekend to catch up on missed sleep from the previous week, but when I am awake, I am worrying about school. I always feel if I had a couple of extra days without class, I could actually breathe, regroup and regain the focus I had at the beginning of the semester. Unfortunately, no such relief has been scheduled.
Why does South not have a fall break when so many other universities do? Southern Miss begins classes two days after South, gets a two-day fall break in the middle of October and still ends the semester only a day later than South. Other regional schools include the U. of Alabama, LSU, U. of Georgia, U. of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, which has the exact same academic calendar as USA, and each of them have at least a two day fall break. It seems a bit obvious, for no other reason than fitting in, that USA should be added to the list.
Fall semester, as it exists right now, is pretty much a straight run without reprieve. Ok, so we get a day off for Labor Day and three for Thanksgiving, but those break periods have major faults. The former occurs only a week or two into the semester, a break which is not really needed, though appreciated, and the latter generally involves traveling and family obligations, so there is no real time for rest. Classes get overwhelming, and students need some down time. If nothing else, a fall break would act as a literal pause in the middle of the term in order for students to really evaluate what he or she needs to do to pull up those straggling grades.
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