<p>FWIW, you should look into some of the cog sci behind learning before espousing the quarter system as being wonderful. I have begun to get some serious doubts about whether or not semester long courses are long enough to truly have retention, forget about chopping 3-6 weeks (depending on who you're comparing) for a quarter system.</p>
<p>From what I've seemed to glean, the longer you work with and come back to material the more likely you are to retain it. As much as I'm finishing school and dying to take a ton more courses, I'm not sure it would have been valuable to have taken a bunch more in the same time period-- I value knowledge I keep, not the knowledge that is already drifting out of my brain.</p>
<p>And btw, while I do quite a bit of work over spring break, I've never done any work over winter break.</p>