Why We Need an Academic Break

Why We Need an Academic Break?

Students like me would know the answer immediately.

We need an academic break because we deserve it. You might have seen this academic break trending in your social media these past days. If you’re a student, you would have related. If you’re not, you may have empathized. But, there may be some people that may have brushed it off. Like it wasn’t a big deal.

For some people, it might just be petty complaints from students. The cry was only because of laziness. But, there’s more to it than what we see.

As a student, I fairly believe that we need an academic break not because we are lazy. But because we are working too hard already. Too hard that it’s becoming so difficult. Some have it harder.

You might be thinking that things are easier now that everything is online. You wouldn’t need to travel to go to school. Some students wouldn’t need to stay on dormitories or apartments. But that might be the only perks. This online classes is so much harder because of the heavy workload the curriculum is imposing. The amount of activities and quizzes given when class were face-to-face is lesser compared to this online class. Some teachers see this online class, knowing that we are only locked up on our homes, as an opportunity for them to give more work because they think we have nothing else to do. The stress does not go away as everytime you finish one task, another one is already on the list.

What is more saddening is that online classes are not an effective learning method. We cannot absorb and internalize fully the lessons being given. Homes do not offer comfortable learning environment. Synchronous classes or conducting of classes through the use of Zoom, Google Meet and other apps does not work for everyone. Since not everyone do not have a stable Internet connection, not everyone gets benefitted from those synchronous classes. It only causes more stress since they cannot join and even if they can join, they get disconnected during the class.

And unlike before the pandemic, we students could go out and unwind. We can relieve our stress for a little bit with our friends. But now, we could not do that anymore. We stay inside our homes, cooped up, with only limited activities to enjoy.

The academic load became heavier and harder. The pacing of teaching has also become faster. This online learning stresses out the student instead of making them enjoy learning. Instead of nurturing the passion in every student’s heart of their chosen career, it feels like this method of learning demotivates us, burning us out.

Schools should set breaks for students because of the burnout that the students are suffering. The hunger for an academic break is justified. It is only reasonable for schools to grant one. It should not even be necessary for us to request and demand it. It should be given to us voluntarily.

Academic breaks may be necessary, however, it is only a temporary solution. There should be a more comprehensive solution with the ineffectiveness of this online setup. Beyond academic break, we need an academic ease. Schools should reevaluate their curriculum, calendar, and their own faculty to provide an effective learning system for the students.

This pandemic robbed so many of our life. Our passion to learn is slowly being snatched away chunk by chunk. We cannot take back the time we have wasted of more than a year of unproductive and unfruitful schooling.

Hopefully, the pandemic ends, and things would change. Better late than never. Right?