Students Analyze Low Homework Weekend
From Friday, Jan. 23 to Sunday, Jan. 25, Exonians savored three days of minimal academic assignments during the newly implemented Low Homework Weekend. Proposed by the Academy’s Student Council (StuCo) and approved by faculty last winter, the weekend aimed to alleviate Exonians’ winter blues.
For the Low Homework Weekend, the Academy asked instructors to assign a maximum of 30 minutes of homework per class and restricted teachers from assigning any major assignments due this past Monday.
Such a reduced workload policy was modeled after Winter Thaw, a homework-reduced weekend that was originally implemented in order to provide students a time to relax and unwind from the stress of Saturday classes during the winter; however, with Saturday classes reduced, the Academy cancelled Winter Thaw three years ago.
“Low Homework Weekend was a breath of fresh air for me...It really set me up for success, and I think this should happen more often.”
StuCo President and senior Benjamin Cohen, who worked on the proposal of Low Homework Weekend, explained the rationale behind Low Homework Weekend and its transition from Winter Thaw.
“We wanted to keep the essence of Winter Thaw, [a weekend] without homework, while avoiding another Saturday class,” Cohen said. “It seemed like a low homework weekend would achieve both those goals as students wouldn’t have to be doing work all of Sunday to prepare for class on Monday.”
StuCo’s policy committee created a draft using Cohen’s goal as a focus and presented it to the larger council to gauge opinion. Senior Sachin Holdheim, a co-head of the policy committee, said that the draft of the proposal received approval and support from the majority of the council.
“Not surprisingly, there was overwhelming support for it, many asking for a no-homework weekend or Winter Thaw instead,” Holdheim said. “It was agreed after talking to department heads and other faculty that this seemed the most reasonable.”
After being approved by the entire StuCo, the Low Homework Weekend proposal was sent to the faculty for approval. Faculty generally seemed to be in favor of the proposal, however, there were a variety of opinions regarding the extent of assignment leniency. Some wanted a weekend without any homework, while others were set on giving homework. The disagreement resulted in the 30 minute maximum homework limit.
Modern languages instructor Ting Yuan supported the idea, expressing that Low Homework Weekend allows students to “relax a bit halfway through winter term.”
Other teachers disagreed with Yuan’s sentiments, arguing that the long-term repercussions outweighed the short-term benefits. At the Academy, all teachers must reach a certain goal or point in their lessons by the end of the term, and there are only so many days in the term to get there. Science instructor Townley Chisholm was one of several who saw the event as another unneeded interruption to the teachers’ syllabuses and students’ learning.
“I understand that everyone needs a break, but this Low Homework Weekend made sense when we had Saturday classes every week and doesn't now that we don't,” Chisholm said. “I find that this term has been really badly affected by loss of rhythm due to missed classes for different events and that this low work weekend doesn't help.”
Low Homework Weekend was well received by most students. Cohen, who had previously experienced Winter Thaw, compared and contrasted the two.
“The great thing about Winter Thaw was that you could go off campus; my prep year, I went home. So it was more like parents’ weekend. But in terms of the social circumstances on campus, I think it succeeded in giving people more time.”
For upper Olivia Reed, Low Homework Weekend was very beneficial. She said that Low Homework Weekend “[allowed] students to hit the reset button in the middle of term [and] get a little extra sleep.”
Reed added that it allowed her time to focus on separate assignments individually. “For me, it worked out that I took the SAT this weekend and could just really focus on that instead of a big history paper. I personally tried not to get ahead of myself and used the time to clean and watch Netflix and really feel organized for the coming week.”
Holdheim said that he also enjoyed the weekend. He noted that he took advantage of his free time to indulge in other activities.
“It was a welcome break from the winter slog. I know many used the opportunity to go to Boston or visit family,” Holdheim said.
“I ended up being a part of a big snowball fight with my dorm, and saw “Selma” on an ALES-sponsored trip.”
Lower Christopher Agard agreed with Reed and Holdheim. He said that he enjoyed having a light workload and commended the distraction the weekend offered from his workload.
“[Low Homework Weekend] was really nice because I got to relax and spend time with friends and not really think about classes that much,” Agard said. “I got to see a movie with my advisory, which we probably couldn't do on another weekend.”
Some teachers also felt the benefits of Low Homework Weekend. Yuan utilized this opportunity to realign two of her same-level classes.
“I gave a little bit of homework to my D format because during the last couple of weeks it has met fewer times and fallen a bit behind. I used the weekend to help the two classes reach the same pace,” Yuan said.
Although a large portion of the student body enjoyed Low Homework Weekend and all the free time it brought, others felt increased stress from the ways teachers worked around the set homework time limit, often resulting in large assignments due immediately before or after the regulated weekend time period.
Upper Melody Nguyen said that her Low Homework Weekend proved to be more stressful than regular weekends. While all of Nguyen’s teachers followed the rules of Low Homework Weekend, Nguyen still felt as stressed as usual, if not more. “Some of my teachers, because of the Low Homework Weekend, decided to have all the major assignments due on Friday, which put a lot of stress and pressure on me.”
Reed agreed with Nguyen, acknowledging the potential downsides to the policy.
“I think with the Low Homework Weekend, many teachers assigned homework for Tuesday, so you are still left doing a lot over the weekend,” Reed said. “There is also a pressure to get ahead instead of relaxing, so you aren't necessarily unstressed.”
Students have proposed an array of ways to improve the Low Homework Weekend. Nguyen, while dissatisfied with the clumping of major assignments, still believes that Low Homework Weekend is a good idea, just one in need of refinement.
“There should be more regulations on this weekend or things like two tests and two papers in the one week prior to the SAT [will] happen. And trust me...it was miserable.”
As with all new proposals, Low Homework Weekend has its kinks to work out. StuCo’s policy committee will be discussing how to improve the initiative over the next few weeks. Despite minor technicalities, Exonians greatly enjoyed the weekend and are looking forward to more Low Homework Weekends in the future.
“Low Homework Weekend was a breath of fresh air for me,” lower Niels Schrage said. “I was feeling really bad about the amount of work I had and really thought I couldn’t get it all done, but they made it so manageable and easy. It really set me up for success, and I think this should happen more often.”
Contriubtions by Jon Lee