Just about to break
By Stephany Harrington, Columnist
This is the weekend many of us have been waiting for. Reading Days are finally upon us. Some may have already deserted campus for the weekend, while other may be anxiously awaiting the end of their last few classes. Many travel home during this long weekend to visit family, or just to escape school and their studies for a little while. And it seems that many professors also indulge in this long weekend so they, too, can have a little rest.
Over the past couple of years, I have always known that it was called Reading Days because it is a weekend that students have to prepare for their upcoming midterms. Like in the days leading up to finals, there is a declared Reading Day before finals begin and in the middle of finals week. This makes taking these exams a little easier and gives us a breather from the intense studying. So that is exactly the purpose of Reading Days—to study.
And what has always confused me about this is that I have also heard people call it Fall Break. To me, that is baffling because I am not sure how this short of a “break” can be considered, well, a break. People absolutely vacate the campus and are probably doing better things than I always find myself doing while I stay on campus. But still, because of this mass exodus from school, many professors have followed suit and accepted this treatment of Reading Days. They indulge in the idea of “Fall Break,” and I am thoroughly confused by that.
One of my professors was discussing our upcoming midterm with us so we knew what to expect and how to study for it. He planned for this examination to take place immediately after Reading Days so we could utilize that time to adequately review our material. He even said he was confused when he spoke to some of his colleagues here about their methods. He reported that some viewed Reading Days as their time to read all of our exams, rather than our time to study.
Unfortunately, our minds make us think Reading Days are more freeing than they really are. Photo Credit: GoogleImages
I thought that was outrageous, and my professor also clearly disagreed with that method. Across the board, professors and students are starting to view this upcoming long weekend as a break when that was never the intention. Because of this, some professors schedule midterms this week, leaving no time for students to do their normal work and prepare for these tests. Students should not have that kind of pressure when Reading Days are designed specifically to remedy that.
But alas, students hit the books regardless because midterms are important, no matter which week they fall on. I know that I will definitely be studying, despite the temptation to do absolutely nothing. Something I catch myself doing more and more every year. And I guess that is the tricky part about Reading Days. Having such a long weekend foreshadows the breaks in November and December that I find myself dreaming about.
These Readings Days fool the mind into thinking that they will be a rewarding break, when really everything will just resume the way it always does once they’re over. We will go back to waking up every morning dreading the homework and the tests and everything that comes with it. The mind really does reinvent Reading Days as a fall break because it becomes extremely clear that a break is what we need most.
