With Thanksgiving break in the rear view mirror and Christmas break fast approaching, I’m reminded of all the great times I’ve had on school breaks in the past. Oh, the bliss of it all. Free from homework, free from tests, free from the overriding feeling of doom that accompanies any semester at Mines. Then reality smacks me upside the head and I remember that I’m at Mines. We don’t get breaks. Sure, the registrar and our professors call them breaks, but in the very same sentence they tell us that we have a homework assignment due the day after break, or a paper, or a presentation, or a… you name it. The point is, the concept of a “break” apparently escapes the grasp of most of the the faculty here at the prestigious Colorado School of Mines.
I realize that we’re supposed to be the best and, but do we really need to blow our brains out constantly for the entire semester, with no real breaks from the burdens of school? Sure, we get breaks from classes, but that just means we can stay in our apartments or dorms while we cry over how hard a stupid assignment is.
Thanksgiving break was not too long ago, and at the beginning of the semester I really looked forward to it. About two weeks before break, however, I began to hate my life. Not only did I have a test and multiple large homework assignments due right before break, I had two tests and four homework assignments due within three days of the end of break. Consequently, I spent the entirety of my break worrying that I wouldn’t have enough time to study for these “kind of important” tests. No, studying on break really didn’t work. It never does. That’s why it’s called a break!
I have one request for our faculty. Please, oh please, lay out our course schedule such that we can actually take a break from school on our time off. I ask not just for a break from classes, but a break from school. I know you can do it, and I’m quite sure the entire student body would agree that we would prefer a tiny bit more work spread out over the weeks we are actually in class, Is it really so hard? Well, it sucks for us.
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