For many, the halfway point of the semester is a time of burnout, anxiety, midterms, sleep deprivation and lack of motivation, seemingly the best time to break from the academic hustle. But how much rest and relaxation can come out of a short and awkwardly timed four day break?
The official start and end dates of Fall Pause this year were 5 p.m. Friday, October 13 to 8 a.m. Wednesday, October 18. Just scanning over these dates posted on Dickinson’s official Academic Calendar, one would think that a five-day break is perfect; But did it truly feel like it? For most, the answer is no.
When you’re told that you’ll be able to disconnect on Friday, but are grinding to meet those midnight due dates, that’s already a half day of your break eaten up by the stress of school. Then, when it ends early morning Wednesday, you’re forced to either arrive back on campus, or kick back into academic gear on that Tuesday, which means even more of your time is devoured by work and travel. Taking into account that people have to travel home, travel back, and continue to complete coursework to prepare for classes on Wednesday, many are probably working past the 5 p.m. start time. So on Friday, Fall Pause only ends up being three days to actually enjoy the break.
There’s a lot of rest and quality time with friends and family that students can have over a three day period, but when that three day period comes after seven whole weeks of pushing, working and stress, it doesn’t seem like much. It would be a better use of everyone’s time to get a week off, with Fall Pause starting on Saturday, and ending on Sunday. Students wouldn’t be cutting into their breaks by working through Friday, because that would be the expectation. Students wouldn’t be giving up days of their short break to work because they would only have to give up a day of their week, not three days.
We have no days off until Fall Pause – not even Labor Day or Indigenous People’s day – so would it not be justified for students to just have one week off where we could truly get away, then come back the following week refreshed and renewed to push through the rest of the term? I’m sure there are logistical reasons the school has for not giving us a full week off, even though that period of time would genuinely give us an academic week’s worth of rest. However, if we are going to start a break on Friday, then we should at least be able to take classes off that day. This would push due dates up to Thursday at midnight, and give students the entirety of Friday to travel home and spend more time with family, friends, or relaxing and taking advantage of their break, rather then trying to get through the day, stuart traveling late afternoon, arrive home at night and only get to see their family or friends for dinner, or late at night. Overall, though any break in general is appreciated and used to refuel, it’s simply not enough to have practically three days after a seven week push, and would be better for all Dickinson’s time and mental health to get one week away from it all, truly letting us pause.
