Is a three week Christmas break too long?

By Deanna Fraser

BELLEVILLE – When it comes to Christmas break, many students want as much time as possible to unwind after a long semester, but students are more divided on the topic than some may think.

For several post-secondary schools this year, the break runs from Dec. 16, 2016 to Jan. 9, 2017.

A poll on Twitter this week showed that many students think that three weeks is a good chunk of time away from school, but not everyone agrees.

Cameron Dulisch, a second year architecture student, is among the 20 per cent  who voted that this year’s break is too long.

Dulisch said that apart from spending time with family, he doesn’t do much with his time away and is more than happy to come back after only two weeks.

“I sit around the house and don’t really do anything, even though I told myself I would. I pretty much just get lazy,” he said.

Bailey Murphy, a player on the varsity women’s basketball team, agrees with Dulisch.

“I’m probably gonna do everything I need to do and then just end up sitting around. Three weeks is a bit much,” she said.

Murphy added that she isn’t bothered that she has to return five days early for practice.

Georgia Mackay, another Loyalist student, said that although she could use the three week break, it does affect her schooling.

“It takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Three weeks is a lot of time. It makes it really difficult to get back into the swing of things,” she said.

“If it were two weeks you’d have enough time to wind down and have a week to enjoy, and then another couple of days to get you back in the mind set of school,” she added.

But some professors, like photojournalism professor Scott Whelan, think that two weeks just isn’t long enough.

“I think most people deserve a bit of a break, and maybe they’ve earned it. Fall can be a really heavy semester. So I think three weeks is good,” said Whelan.

Whelan added that reading breaks, which happen in the middle of a semester, are a bigger problem than a lengthy break in between the fall and winter term.

“I just think that it’s unnecessary because it affects momentum,” he said.

Whelan explained that a longer break makes sense because there is a big shift in what programs do in the winter versus the fall.

However, not all schools are the same. Some students, like Kirsten Stevens from Wilfred Laurier, are only given two weeks to enjoy at home. Stevens expressed how she felt about the week difference in a phone interview last week.

“I believe that everyone in post-secondary should have the same amount of time during the Christmas holidays,” she said.

“I have a sibling in college with a three week break but has a lighter course load than I do, so I think it’s unfair that not everyone has the same amount of time to relax.”

In a second poll on Twitter many agreed with Stevens that all post-secondary schools should have the same amount of time off.