As the holiday break approaches, the debate on whether or not teachers should be allowed to assign work over the winter vacation is revisited. Many students find work assigned over the holidays unfair. However, some teachers believe students should take advantage of the extra time by getting more work done.
“Vacation is vacation. We already have enough stress,” senior Chris Janocha said.
I believe it to be wholly dependent on the circumstances surrounding the assignment. For instance, had a teacher assigned something over break, with sufficient enough notice to accomplish the task before the break begins, it is fair game. And not only is it fair, it also rewards students for staying on top of their assignments.
“Breaks should be used to spend time with family and friends, not doing school work,” senior Jarrod Trief said.
On the contrary, it is unfair when teachers assign work on the day before the break begins. As it leaves no way for students to finish the assignment and enjoy the break. The quality of the work is bound to suffer as well. Nobody wants to work over break. So, when students are required to do break work, they hastily finish their assignment devoting less of themselves to it. Break assignments of this nature just come off as busy work assigned out of pure callousness.
“Teachers have to grade over vacation and do lesson plans, so students can be expected to do work over the vacation as well,” history teacher Mr. Hoffman said.
Again, it seems to be that students despair assigned work on their vacations, while teachers embrace the idea. I highly doubt any system would be put in place to prevent teachers from assigning work over breaks. It will more than likely remain up to the teacher.
