Took my kiddo Easter dinner at her apartment yesterday. Packed the car with a bunch of her stuff to make her move home easier next weekend.
Like other years, with Easter weekend right on top of exams, she couldn’t take time away from the last crucial study-push to make it home for the family dinner at Grandma’s. She has exams on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So, what can you do?
While it’s sad to have her missing from the dinner (which is really more of a family get together for us with ham and chocolate and colored eggs, and not particularly religious)…I really do like that UMich breaks for summer earlier than other schools.
Particularly, because this allows her to do a summer program and still have a few weeks to breath and recover for the next demanding year.
Kid is doing an REU for 10 weeks away, but will still be home for 7 weeks, which we really like. I’d gladly trade Easter for the ability to vacation with her without summer research and internship conflicts.
Also, for kids who pay their own way in full or in part, those extra weeks in the summer mean more paychecks and less debt.
I like the calendar. Can see how some families might be annoyed with the loss of a family holiday, but I think the benefits outweigh the losses.
Kids at college have exams. Or they are too far away for holiday dinners. Remember that Easter is not at the same time every year, too. Next year Easter is on April 1. I went to Michigan, and don’t recall ever going home for Easter (family 45 minutes away), although my family did celebrate it.
“Never go a day in May” is an awesome thing. I loved it as a UM student. And as a parent of a kid who will be going til mid June, it’s worth the short breaks.
intparent…yep, pretty much par for the course. My daughter’s friend’s mom was really upset about the schedule, but like you say, with Easter being all over the map year to year, I don’t know how the university could compensate for all major religious holidays even if they wanted to and tried hard. Part of being an adult is balancing your life and obligations, and sometimes that’s tricky when there are conflicts. Adulting is messy business. I know there are a lot of churches/synagogues/mosques in AA that support religious kids away from home who miss family on religious holidays.
notveryzen: We LOVE “Never go a day in May”. We’ve started planning family vacations in May to avoid the travel boom when most kids get out of public school. Has been really nice to go some terrific places with smaller crowds:) Obviously, in a couple of years here, the kiddo will be working and probably won’t be able to vacation with us as much, but I like taking advantage of every year I can get:)
@MaryGJ - agree wholeheartedly with your comments about the schedule. Works out so well for the Summer.
After I told a relative my son is done for the year before the end of April, she dumbly responded that “figures the more you pay, the shorter the class time is.” I couldn’t get “wrong” out my mouth quick enough.
Haha. I guess if you’re Christian you are accustomed to schedules revolving around your holidays. K-12 holidays always revolve around Easter and Christmas. Our public school district was always closed on Good Friday too. For those of us who are a minority religion, we’re used to living with other groups’ schedules. My kids have never been home for Rosh Hashanah or Passover. My Indian friends never are off on Diwali. But we’re always off Christmas week! I’m not complaining at all. I completely understand that we have to live within the dominant culture. I’m just chuckling at your mild annoyance about Easter.
Nah, I’m not annoyed. We still kinda celebrate Secular American Easter with colored eggs and games for little people and a big family dinner, but we’re not religious, and when you’re an adult your exams have to come first. We missed her at the party, but we phoned her and she Skyped with Grandma, so it was all good:)
I totally get the college not catering to the holiday…as you say, there are so many religious traditions among the students. It would be impossible to schedule around all the various holy days. (and you’re right that the dominant culture gets enough advantage)
The friend who was complaining was annoyed, though. I guess the point of this thread was take a reading of the general population’s reaction.
I’m encouraged to see that most people seem to understand, and don’t share her feelings. I love UMich’s calendar!
@MaryGJ Thank you. Can’t wait till it’s over so I can have a big plate of pasta
Colleges DO cater to the holidays. The big break is scheduled because of Christmas. The entire country slows down or stops because of Christmas. Again, I don’t have a problem with it. Just pointing out that we are so accustomed to it that we don’t even realize that a Christian holiday is the reason that private companies, government, and schools in the USA go on holiday the last week of the year.
This type of university calendar isn’t unique to UM. Went through the same thing with other universities. With Easter being a movable holiday, it is hard to otherwise accommodate it. And unlike Christmas, it has never been a major “public” holiday.
Agree, being done in late April is fabulous. Nothing worse than going to classes or sleeping in a sticky dorm room during hot weather.
