Finals week acts as the beginning of a much-needed break for most students
Along with many University of Idaho students, I have come to appreciate finals week for what it truly is – an extra week added on to my winter break.
This is especially true for me this time around. By the end of this week I will likely be back home in Boise, as my semester will essentially be over.
At that point I will have very few responsibilities left for 2015. In the meantime, I have my final days of classes to deal with. The price of a relaxing finals week is steep, because now my dead week is just a finals week that”s come seven days early.
Erin Bamer
In the next few days, my life will be consumed by final projects, tests, take-home exams – by now most college students know the drill.
Professors schedule their finals to be due during dead week on the common argument that they”re doing it for the students” benefit. The logic is that students are already so overwhelmed with work during finals week that the professors are doing students a favor by making their assignments due earlier so they don”t have to deal with it the following week.
This argument would be much more believable if I had a single school-related thing scheduled next week. At this point, if professors want to make their students” lives easier, they will keep their final assignments due during finals week and let students use the extra days off during dead week to study for those finals. Students pay a lot of money for 16-week semesters, and we deserve those 16 weeks.
On the other hand, I can”t really complain about how my three-week winter break has suddenly turned into a month-long break.
Winter break is one of the best times of the year for most college students. After a grueling semester, students get almost an entire month to unwind, celebrate the holidays and relax with their families and loved ones. For a lot of students, winter break is the longest period of time they get to spend with their families, because they spend the summer away for their jobs or internships.
Some students don”t spend their holiday vacation with their families, whether it”s by choice or not, and that”s OK too. The real purpose of the break is to give students, faculty and staff some well-deserved time off before they all hop back onto the rollercoaster again in the spring.
I don”t know about the rest of the UI student body, but it”s highly likely that I will spend the majority of my winter break in bed asleep. I may take small breaks from my hibernation to gorge myself on some free, homemade meals. My parents will probably try to get me out of bed at some point to “make the most of my vacation,” but as far as I”m concerned, spending my winter break in bed is a winter break well-spent.
So, I suppose in the end I can”t really be opposed to my finals week being devoid of any real responsibilities. But I also wouldn”t complain if I could have used the extra time to study and maybe earn a better grade in a few of my classes.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer