Picture this: The sun is shining in late May, the air is humid, and most schools are already on summer break. Marist students want to enjoy the summer too, but our exams don’t end until the first days of June.
This was our reality until our schedule changed with the 2024-2025 school year. These changes, however, have forced students to answer this question: What do we value most: earlier summer or longer breaks between terms?
The general opinion among students is negative about the new schedule, and the complaints are more specific than meet the eye. Having a break between terms proved very important for students who felt exhausted after a busy exam week.
Lauren Greenhill stated her opinion. “We can’t rest and organize ourselves before a new term,” she explained. Hadley Mathers and Ava Marsh shared similar sentiments. “It’s much harder to go back to school after only a long weekend following exams,” they shared.
After this stressful exam week, students lamented the loss of schola brevis every term. To the students, schola brevis has many benefits. They can meet teachers, their class, go over materials, and go over the syllabus.
Becca Jose gave her thoughts on the schedule without schola brevis. “Students’ minds are scrambled without schola brevis at the beginning of each term because it helps them ease into their new schedules and gets them organized for their classes” she stated.
Another inconvenient aspect of the new schedule is the two weeks between a new term and a break.
At the beginning of Term 2, students went to school for two weeks; then had Thanksgiving break. Similarly, at the start of Term 3, students attended class for two weeks before leaving for spring break.
Having only two weeks of classes before a week-long break resulted in teachers having to cram whole units into those two weeks. Then, on the Thursday or Friday before break, many classes have tests and quizzes because the teachers have no other choice but to give assessments.
Caroline Spies vocalized her frustration with this development. “On that last Friday, everyone has tests because testing after break is extremely difficult. Teachers simply cannot give more time,” she declared.
These busy two weeks cause stress among the students’ schedules instead of allowing for class schedules to be more spread out.
To most students, the good does not outweigh the bad when it comes to the new schedule. Everyone will surely be glad when school ends before Memorial Day, but the turbulent transitions between terms makes this benefit seem insignificant.
