Most students at Lafayette can’t wait for Winter Break to come and the end of the Semester to finally be here. A two-week break from school to spend with our families is a great thing, and in my personal opinion, should not be invaded by work being assigned over the break.

Winter Break is the time between the first semester and the second semester that we have off to take time for the holidays and for spending time with our families. In most classes, the start of the second semester is important because we start new curriculum. Or in some cases, like Health or Gym, start a new class. I think that assigning homework over the break could be detrimental to students feeling relaxed over the break or getting rest. The school year is very stressful and the time we have off, we like to cherish. I also think assigning work over the break would be stressful for teachers as well, seeing that they would have to grade many assignments right as the second semester starts instead of easing into the classes. I asked sophomore Julia Howell about work over winter break and she had this to say, “I think winter break is a time to be spent with family not doing schoolwork. I like the feeling of a new semester and giving us work through the break would make us feel like there is no break and that we are just going into a longer school year and not a new start”.

Naturally, students think it is a bad idea, but I can see why some teachers would like the idea. The teachers get a head start in teaching the students the next semesters material and they can start from a later point in their class. Also, the students do have two weeks to do the work which should be enough time to work depending on the amount of work. Likewise, some classes have so much material to cover that they need to shift some of the responsibility to the students. Further, the second semester brings the possiblity of snow days, which can put AP classes or Dual Credit classes behind since their testing and college submission deadlines don’t change with snow events.  Still, I think high school students need a break so they can come back refreshed and ready to focus.

In conclusion I believe that students should not have schoolwork over Winter Break because it is a time that should be spent with family and celebrating the holidays. The second semester of our school year is a fresh start, and blurring the line between the first and second semester would make the school year feel much longer. Our first semester was stressful enough, we should have a time to relax before we jump into the second one.