It’s that time of year again—the time where you’re exhausted, burnt out, and ready to do anything but spend another day at Weldon. It seems like there’s no end in sight… and there’s certainly no break in sight, either.
A topic of hot debate on Western’s campus this year is Western’s fall reading week—or rather, lack thereof. Although many schools, such as Laurier or Brock, have a fall reading week that extends from Thanksgiving Monday, Western chooses not to partake and gives a “study break” instead.
Here’s the problem. This “study break”? Well, it’s on the most inconvenient weekend ever. Essentially, it’s an extension on Halloween. This year, Richmond Row was packed from Wednesday all the way until the Monday of actual Halloween because let’s face it: Halloweekend is a lot more important than studying to a majority of Western students. Personally, the majority of my major midterms occurred right before the break, rendering it kind of useless for me.
For schools with reading weeks, or even just study breaks, they occur after Thanksgiving, a time where many students are traveling home anyways. This is also right before midterms begin, making it a prime time for students to go home, relax a little with family, and actually study.
By making the “study break” on Halloween weekend, Western is perpetuating the party culture they’re so desperately trying to debunk. Not only that, but it’s extremely unhealthy for student’s mental health.
The recently released December exam schedule also stressed me out as I realized my final exam is December 21st, a date that seemed shockingly late to me. When I did some research, I realized just how messed up Western is in terms of its academic year structure.
The fall term at Western ends on December 7th, and of the six other universities I looked at, only one other (a school with a reading week, I might add) ended that late. And although majority of the schools had examinations until December 21st, they also do not have to return to school until January 9th, unlike Western students, who return on the 3rd.
Basically, this means no rest for the Western students. In a world with increasing awareness on mental health and its importance, I’m rather shocked that Western could care less about trying to help the stress rates of the students with a break. Even the difference of changing the study break dates to after Thanksgiving would have an amazing stress relieving effect.
Instead, we get next to nothing to help us out. I’m sure I’m not the only student who didn’t even have a lot to study for during the “study break,” or who will be stuck here until December 21st. It’s time Western stopped looking at ways to get us to stop partying on homecoming and start trying to help the stress levels of a student in the modern world— one who is expected to be a top scholar, be active in clubs or athletics, volunteer, exercise, have a social life, work, and be physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy.
Give me a break Western—literally. We could all use it.