The popular reaction around campus when it comes to fall break is definitely surrounded by excitement. However, not many people take into consideration how short the actual break is, how they might have exams the day before and the day they come back from break and how this all could potentially be fixed by having a longer Thanksgiving break instead.
As midterm season is in full swing, and everyone can be seen studying non-stop with nothing but Starbucks and candy surrounding them, it is safe to say everyone needs a break. Fall break gives something for every student to look forward to whether they are going home or staying on campus. The real issues and struggles that come from fall break directly stem from the students who are trying to go home or travel in any form.
Don’t get me wrong, a four day break (counting the weekend) is way better than nothing, but think about all of the people that can’t drive home. Booking an expensive flight, driving to the airport and dealing with all of the other extraneous details of traveling may not be worth your time when all of it feels like it was spent on getting to where you are going.
The fact that most professors give exams up until the day before break and some the day after fall break causes unwanted stress on top of traveling and everything else one might have going on. On top of preparing for going home or any other plans you may have for your fall break, you have to study non-stop too.
Did Clemson having a home game make your fall break decisions harder? Many students would love nothing more than to go home on their fall break, but what if they had a ticket to the game? Of course, they could just sell it, but tickets are definitely not easy to come by and are very hard to pass up. This gives students who are staying on campus something fun to do since they are not traveling, but what about all of the students who don’t want to miss the game they may have paid a season ticket for, but also want to see their family?
So what if you were given the option to opt out of fall break altogether and instead have a much longer Thanksgiving break? Traveling long distances would be worth it, people who do not get to go home often would get to spend more time with their families and midterm season would be over and finals wouldn’t be for another two weeks. All of the stress and preparation of potentially leaving campus would be well spent and it would be a much longer break that everyone would love to have.
Overall, we all should be grateful to have fall break in this hectic time of year. Most of us are in full stress-out mode and are looking for any opportunity not to have to go to class or be consumed by studying. However, who says that this break could not be planned out differently, maybe in a way that would have more benefits for all students?
