How many days until break is a question often asked by many kids. Between impatience and excitement, students are ready to not be at school. But the weeks leading up to it can be stressful and full of tasks. A break is made for students to be able to relax and get ready for the upcoming span of school, but sometimes, they can cause the kids’ lives to be more chaotic. There are multiple days off in a school year, with some being five consecutive days and some only being one. But over those longer time periods, students seem to be more stressed.
Gloriah Rinkenberger, junior, is involved in archery, Take Charge, Green Bandana, and many other out-of-school activities. Rinkenberger loves vacation time, and she enjoys doing multiple tasks during them. She said, “I like to read, go to youth groups, crochet, work, walk, and hang out with my family.” One thing that many students have experienced during their educational journey is holiday parties. They are mostly celebrated in elementary and middle school and stop when kids get to high school, but why? Now, instead of movies and snacks on the last few days, there are tests and due dates, which can be very stressful for students when all they want to do is have a nice time with their friends and family, or they just want to spend time with themselves.
Andrea Hansen, math teacher, also enjoys her vacation time because it isn’t only a break for students to relax. It is also a time when the teachers in the building can spend time with their families and just cool off from the past weeks of teaching. The adults can refresh and rejuvenate, but when students come back, it’s a different story for their learning. Hansen said, Before students get time off, it feels as though a pound of assignments and projects get added to their already busy schedule. Rinkenberger has recognized this in schools and believes that some teachers do this to their students. But is it necessary when going on these long vacations? Students forget about what they just learned weeks prior, so when teachers are asking students to do extra work before break, it’s really just them trying to test the knowledge one has before they go on break.
High school is always seen as something glamorous in the movies, and as kids, everyone wanted to grow up, but now that they see what it really is, they want to go back to watching movies, eating snacks, and talking to their friends before going on a nice relaxing break away from everything. But as people grow up, they gain more responsibility and that’s not always bad, but it means people have to work hard to get rewarded. So before break, they need to review what they had learned the past weeks which can be difficult. Think of the bright side: people will be less stressed coming back from break knowing that they finished their work.
