Flowers blooming, temperatures warming, and birds singing are just a few of the wonderful things that come with the spring season. However, high school students may only have a few chances to enjoy the natural beauty around them.
Other than the measly four-day weekend at the very end of March, there is not a single day off from school until May 27. That singular weekend in March is the only time students get to enjoy the beautiful weather. With so little time off from school, students are bound to be stressed, burnt out and miserable. A longer break is imperative in order to maintain student’s well-being during April and May.
In addition to getting very little time off school, students have intense academic pressure placed on them during the spring. In the month of May, Keystone Exams, AP tests and IB tests all occur. This huge load of testing is incredibly stressful for students. In addition, final exams take place in the first week of June, making the test burden that students face around this time of year even worse. Burn out and fear of failure commonly accompany intense testing and difficult classes, which could lead to students becoming overwhelmed with stress and underperforming on these important assessments.
Decreasing academic stress can be very easy. It has been proven that time away from one’s work environment can result in greater productivity when returning. Time off is known to relieve stress and boost energy in an individual. The beautiful spring weather can be an added bonus to these breaks, as spending time outside in nature can relieve stress, improve mood, and even increase creativity. If two more four-day weekends were added [My Proposal: April 19 – April 22 and May 10 – May 13], it would break up the continuous slog of school and testing, and give students the breaks they deserve.
Finally, many people celebrate holidays such as Easter and Eid-al-Fitr in the spring. Increasing time off from school during this season would allow both students and teachers to properly enjoy these holidays. A week off from school is given around the winter holidays so that students can celebrate with their families. Why isn’t this extended to spring? If adding four-day weekends as proposed earlier disrupts testing schedules in an inconvenient way, a whole week could instead be taken off from school in April, timed to coincide with spring holidays. This way, students could have a long break to rest and recharge before the intense testing in May while the testing schedules remain intact.
No matter how it is done, students need more time off from school in the spring. Either through scattered four-day weekends or a whole week off from school, a longer spring break is crucial for students to manage stress, spend time in nature, celebrate holidays, and prepare for testing.
This year’s spring break is much too short, and I encourage everyone to make the most of it.
