Changing the School Year Schedule
By Anna Kim ’24
The reputation surrounding the two plus weeks between Thanksgiving break and winter break—lovingly referred to as “hell weeks” by all students—is horrible. The winter term starts off like any other, except that most classes hit the ground running on the first day. On top of the quick start, teachers like to squeeze in at least one major assignment before winter break. While it’s debated whether those two weeks are truly as bad as the reputation suggests, we all agree that we wish we were still on break. With that said, the school year schedule could be much improved by ridding the “hell weeks.” Instead, let’s have a six week break from Thanksgiving to New Years, which would ease both financial and mental stress for students.
To put it bluntly, the current schedule is expensive. For those who fly back and forth for break, we have to coordinate and purchase four plane tickets for four weeks of break and approximately two weeks of school. If you’re an international student, the price is even higher, with jet lag setting in quickly and leaving slowly. While the school does provide generous financial aid, plane tickets are an expense that quickly adds up. If we created a schedule where we could reduce our flight frequency, everyone's costs would be greatly reduced.
Additionally, those two weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break creates stress for students. You come back to school after almost two weeks off. Two weeks later, you get another two week break. When you come back, midterms aren’t that far away. All these starts and stops to the winter term can disrupt routine and make it hard for students to adjust back to Exeter. Wouldn’t it be made so much better by having more time off so that students could come to the school year completely well rested and ready to tackle the tough winter term?
So where would those extra two weeks go? To keep every trimester an equal number of weeks, we could push back Spring Break by two weeks. Alternatively, we could start fall term a week earlier and end spring term a week later. Either way, I believe students would agree that these are worthy sacrifices to make our schedule less stressful.
The solution is clear. Hell weeks are full of stress, fatigue, and an intense desire to either go back to Thanksgiving break or be on the next break. Getting rid of the two weeks would also get rid of the negative reputation that always marks the beginning of winter term. Exeter has gone through many different schedules. What’s to say that we can’t try one where we eliminate the two weeks and also eliminate both faculty and student stress, financial expenses, and more?
