By Anton Dedvukaj
Ah, yes, Spring Break. We all love the exhilarating feeling of being able to put our books aside and turn our brains off for a week to just have fun. And that’s what we are going to do. Right after that social studies practice quiz. And that science assignment. And that English paper. On second thought, maybe not.
Don’t get me wrong. I get it. APs, Regents, and finals are all about two to three months away, so it’s around the time where we need to get into the swing of studying and working toward passing those exams, but in this year, more than most, this feels jarring to me.
I remember in sixth grade when I didn’t understand why weekend homework was a thing. Then came summer homework. And now, break homework. And, really, I feel like the pandemic — as much as it seems like a cop-out to blame it on this — really is to blame here. I mean, many teachers weren’t expecting a Regents or a final this year. And while some classes don’t have Regents, exam season seems primed to make a return.
And in came literally everyone trying to cram in extra stuff. Due to the pandemic, many teachers are behind where they normally would be with respect to their year-long lesson plan, and this results in units being covered very swiftly, and tests seemingly coming every week. And now, it’s spilling into the break.
Honestly, I don’t even want to call this a “break” so much as classless school. Sure, we don’t have class, but with a fair amount of homework, on top of exam preparations, I don’t see myself in the relaxed state of mind that I’m usually in during this time of year.
Maybe this is due to the pandemic as well, or maybe this is the new normal for me as a 10th grader and I’ll have to get used to stressing myself out over “breaks” and studying for exams. But, either way, it seems fitting that in quite possibly the most abnormal school year in recent memory, the expectation of complete relaxation during Spring Break wouldn’t fully be met.
