Every year, staff and students look forward to relaxing and taking time off from school during spring break. It is a crucial time for the student body to reset and prepare for the last quarter of the school year, which tends to be the most grueling of all. With that said, Southern Lehigh only has a five-day long spring break (including a weekend), which by no means qualifies for the amount of time off that students deserve. If spring break were lengthened, the students of Southern Lehigh could benefit and excel as a whole.
“Students would be able to catch up on the schoolwork that we’ve fallen behind on. Some classes like AP Psychology are assigning whole lessons to learn so we need time for that,” junior Christy Nguyen said. “Also, we can use the time to prepare for AP tests that are coming up soon, and SATs.”
Many teens during this time of year are stressed with end-of-quarter grades, SATs, and due dates. Having this time away from school allows kids to get all this work done, and still be able to spend time with friends and family.
“I think the student body deserves more time off to help the transition from third to fourth quarter [be smooth] and not feel rushed,” junior Ella Smith said.
Even teachers can agree that time off is healthy for kids to get the break they deserve. This could also benefit teachers to catch up on grading or extra work to be done. After all, teachers would also get to be with their families, and enjoy a longer time away from stressful work.
“I think anytime you can take a break from day to day basis, it does help you to come back and feel more rejuvenated, especially at this time of the year when it can get stressful,” social studies teacher Mr. Lee Zeisloft said.
Some teachers, however, find spring break to be a good time to assign more work to students. With the workload piling up, a longer spring break allows kids more time to tackle all of the assignments they are juggling at once. Despite what some teachers may believe, this time should be spent for yourself and not worrying about deadlines.
“I feel like the point of giving an allocated number of days off is for students as well as teachers to relax,” Smith said. “So by giving out work, teachers are going against the whole reason it is called a ‘break.’”
Although many students agree, some feel it is no big deal to have work over break as long as it doesn’t consume long hours that could take away from other activities.
“I think it is okay for there to be work over spring break but nothing that will take over an hour,” junior Maddie Criscuolo said. “I think teachers should think about this so they all don’t assign tons of work at the same time.”
The short time off takes away the ability to spend a lot of time outside, and still do fun activities. I think these things are crucially needed, especially this far into the school year. However, some teachers believe that despite the short amount of time off, it still calls for getting work done.
“I typically want students to enjoy their break and truly have that time, but I do also understand as an AP class teacher [that] you have to give assignments to students to keep up with their classes,” Mr. Zeisloft said.
No matter how long or short the break is, it seems some teachers will still assign work. With that being said, students would benefit more from longer days to turn in these assignments on time when they return. With due dates in place, a short amount of time can raise stress levels for teenagers.
Overall, the student body can agree that more time off to focus on not only school can bring students many benefits. Having a longer spring break allows students to be able to handle the workload that teachers are piling upon them, yet also have time on their own to relax.
“The students will get more time to have fun,” sophomore Joey Plessl said. “I think that is the most important part of spring break.”
