When Liberty students returned from their joyous winter break, they were met with the rush of rapidly approaching final exams and overdue assignments for the semester. This prompted grumbles of complaints and a feeling of universal dread among the student body.
Many assumed having finals before the break would solve these issues: the break would be more relaxing, the new year would start with a new semester, and our Canvas grades would be wiped clean.
However, I think students simply wanted to alleviate their stress by displacing it.; they wished the daunting exams were before break because they didn’t want to deal with them.
Even after this year’s first finals week, this topic remains a relevant debate. Perhaps you’ve never considered all the benefits of having finals after winter break, but I think they might just outweigh the advantages of an earlier finals week.
I can acknowledge that the week before winter break is practically a finals week in itself; you might find it unfair that more tests are put toward your first-semester grade rather than starting afresh when you return. Even so, if you supported having the official finals week right before the break, would you be ready and willing to take on all the tests and projects?
December is already such a chaotic month: family, friends, holidays, and finals? It’s too much.
Caught in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I would be so conflicted if I had to choose between holiday shopping or preparing for a test that could bump my grade down a whole letter. It would be torturous to immerse myself in the finals week mentality and sit at my desk all day when there are holiday festivities that await.
Therefore, by waiting to have finals after winter break, we all get a chance to catch up, rest, and recover. If you have missing assignments, do them throughout your time off and improve your grades.
Winter break is our chance to simply relax and power up our brains before taking taxing exams. This leisure time would allow us to recover from burnout, perform in a better mental state, and help us survive finals week.
Ultimately, I stand by the school and district’s choice to schedule high school finals after winter break. There are likely various factors influencing this decision, but one of the most significant is probably timing.
Our school year, which begins in late August or early September, starts too late for classes to have finals before winter break and complete required content. We’d have to sacrifice some of our last days of summer break, and personally, I just don’t think it’s worth it.
