<p>S is a second semester freshman in college just back from spring break. He originally had plans to split the week and a half of vacation between home and travelling, but changed his plans when he saw how much work he'd been assigned just before break and due right afterwards. I'm talking hundreds of pages of reading, two good sized papers and lengthy problem sets. I do get the feeling that the amount of work assigned during vacation depended on the individual professor - maybe he was just unlucky this year. </p>
<p>Anyway, in your experience - is it common for such major work to be assigned over break?</p>
<p>It depends largely on the school's schedule. Many schools have finals or midterms the week after Spring Break or two weeks afterwards (depending on how late or early their Break is). Students at those schools generally have a lot of work and/or a lot of studying to do. My school is on quarters, so like most schools on quarters/trimesters, we have finals the week before vacation--meaning there's no work since you haven't begun third quarter classes yet.</p>
<p>My DD is also on the qtr system and this is one of the benefits. She gets to enjoy her breaks coz her finals are over. Kind of like HS marking periods followed by a week of finals (often done early in the week) and then followed by a week off - so in reality it's often closer to 2 weeks off (especially nice at Thanksgiving time when she can truly relax and enjoy time at home).</p>
<p>Often kids have work to do over spring break, but it is rarely assigned just the week before. Almost always, they've known about it for a while. :)</p>
<p>as alwaysamom said... there is a syllabus. You know how much work you have to when after the first day of class. How you plan that work is completely up to you.</p>
<p>I'm on the semester schedule, but all my midterms were before break. I do have a group presentation the Friday after break so the scheduling on that is kinda rough, but it is what it is.</p>
<p>We too enjoy the benefits of the quarter system( in this particular aspect) . S has his last final Wednesday morning, with a week and a half of the (well deserved) break afterwards.</p>
<p>Having done both and observed both quarter and semester systems, I vastly prefer the semester system. The quarter system means three sets of mid-terms and finals instead of two and is <em>awfully</em> unforgiving in the event of illness, being slow with a course, or just being in a funk for a few days.</p>
<p>When I was a student, I thought the quarter system was great because I could take more courses.</p>
<p>The quarter system is definitely intense and unforgiving, but I like it overall. It's nice being able to change classes three times a year. If you don't like a class or professor, it's only ten weeks long. I love how "the end" is always in site. It makes everything a little more stressful, but I feel it also gives me a clear direction and keeps me focused. It also is well-organized with vacations. My school starts late in September, so our first term goes until Winter Break, our second term goes until Spring Break, and our third term obviously ends with the summer.</p>
<p>I'm on semester and in this case it's no fun because I have a whole book and 3/4 of another to read, plus 3 huge labs, a huge homework, and preparing for a midterm on 3/26 (one week after coming back)</p>
<p>Frankly, there should be no work during spring break, it's just wrong :)</p>
<p>Overall though I prefer semester over quarter. The only bad things about semester are spring break and also the fact that classes get awfully boring about 14 weeks into the 15 week semester. :)</p>
But like you say, not always. Unless you like to do your assigned reading weeks before it's discussed , which I guess is O.K. for some classes. From what I know of D's intensive 15 student class with the 3 books assigned over the break, that wouldn't be an intelligent choice. ;)</p>
<p>alwaysamom, LOL, I certainly thought of that too! Turned out not to be the case, with a couple of the profs adding in work at the last minute not on the syllabus and even saying "This is to keep your brains healthy during the break!" As with curm's D, S also had a class where it was important to have the material fresh in his mind upon his return, so there again, no real choice either.</p>
<p>I suppose a lot of kids are now used to this from HS (it's rampant there, too, as compared to when I went to school), but I know that when I went to college (also a semester system, like my S) this was just never done.
Interesting about the quarter and trimester systems - I will definitely have to look out for that distinction in our search with D. I guess I am generally of the opinion that a break ought to be a break and that it's easy enough to assign work around that time. It worked for us!</p>
<p>When I went to college, I never felt that I could enjoy spring break or Thanksgiving break. I always had it in the back of my mind that several weeks after getting back, I would be heading into finals. I hated it. I only felt that I had a true break between semesters in the winter. The summer I was at work and taking classes.</p>
<p>My son had tests the last week before his spring break. This allowed him to enjoy his break. What a difference. His school seems so organized. I notice that he major tests just before Parent Weekend in the fall too. This is all well planned, and it seems to allow students to enjoy their breaks.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that your S had so much work over what was supposed to be a time for relaxation! Hope he got a little R & R along with the work! My son, for some odd reason, actually has an assignment DUE this Friday, while he's 1250 miles away from school on Spring Break.....I thought that was kind of strange, not to mention uncalled for! <em>lol</em></p>
<p>My son had some reading to do, but he is off snowboarding. So far the newbie ended up in the hospital with a possible concussion. And my son needed stiches for a gash on his knee. But they all rented helmets, so they did learn from the first poor boy!</p>
<p>Same here. My daughter had to e-mail a draft of a paper to a professor on Sunday. Apparently she is expecting comments and has to e-mail the final back by next Sunday. So not only she, but also the professor, is working over spring break. She also has hundreds of pages to read, some of which was just assigned before she came home and some of which is part of a large syllabus. Fortunately, she came home instead of doing the Florida/European spring break experience, and when I heard about all the work, I was glad we didn't spend a lot to send her on one of those. She would have had to spend a lot of time in the hotel/condo. When I was in school a million years ago and we had no lap tops and no e-mail, spring break was a little more laid back.</p>
<p>I have to admit that I've never heard of profs assigning additional work for the express purpose of it being done over break week. I'm in my 11th student-year of having kids in college and none of them has ever experienced this type of non-syllabus add-on, and they are all in (or for the oldest, have been in!) very reading and paper intensive programs. I think all kids will have classes where keeping up with the readings is necessary, classes which meet the week following spring break would be no exception. So, if in the normal course of things (and I stress IF), kids are 'keeping up', a break week shouldn't impose any real problems.</p>
<p>I think part of the issue is that break week is no longer truly looked at, or expected to be, a week where students have no school work to do. Spring break conjures up images of kids going crazy partying in beach towns but I'd bet that even those kids probably have some school work they could/should be doing. :) Colleges look at the week now, more as a break week which will allow kids to 'catch up' and prepare for the final push before exams.</p>
<p>Here in Ontario, the break week is in February and is called Reading Week. Lots of kids head south but it's common that everyone does have school work to do as part of the week off. I guess one thing I would wonder with these profs who are assigning things specifically for break week is, what is the purpose and when are these additional readings going to be discussed in class? Also, what are these readings? Does this involve purchase of additional materials/books? Most syllabi do not allow time for additions, and, in my experience, most profs have some difficulty at some point during the course of the year in covering the materials initially required. How do they find time to include even more?</p>
<p>Well, D has decided to wake from her slumber and expresses that alwaysamom hasn't had Dr. Blank then, has she? LOL.</p>
<p>It seems he has 14 assigned books for this class . There is no textbook, per se. As he progresses at his own pace through the material he will say "by Wednesday have 'this' read and you will be responsible for it in classroom discussions". D says it is likely he will assign a paper on that same Wednesday. The order nor the assigned date is on the syllabus. </p>
<p>In this particular instance the assignment was 880 pages including Selected Readings from the Koran, The Confessions of St. Augustin, a book on how "Christians , Muslims, and Jews created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain", and something about St. Benedict. She had already read a previously assigned 180 pages of Confessions, leaving 700 of the 880. (Admittedly , she is getting two class periods ahead as is her norm when possible. )</p>
<p>D's not complaining. This may be D's favorite class from her favorite Prof. To a kid from Widespot-in-the-road, Texas this interdisciplinary course is mindblowing. It is the second in a series of 3 required courses. She is working her tail off and loving (most) every minute of it. ;)</p>