The few weeks between Thanksgiving break and winter break can be the most brutal time of the semester for Syracuse University students. The stress in this period is not only due to the proximity of finals, but is also caused by the fact that this is a short period of time for students to be on campus.

Last year, SU students went home for Thanksgiving break and did not return until the second semester. Although this “accelerated schedule” was due to COVID-19, some students experienced positive outcomes because they did not return to campus after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The short transition time between breaks can be emotionally challenging for students. The transition from home to campus, then back home, all in the span of less than a month is extremely difficult. Many students long for the comfort of home, resulting in a lack of focus on their impending finals.

Ellie Bass, a freshman at SU, spoke about the difficulties students face when coming back to campus after Thanksgiving break. Bass said she experienced the difficulty of immersion going home, surrounded by family and friends and then rapidly returning to college life.

“As much as I love college, I miss home at times. After coming back from a short Thanksgiving break, I experienced more unease than usual,” she said.

The uniqueness of the short duration home and the brief study-dominant duration back at school makes Thanksgiving break problematic. During this pre-finals period, students receive a heavy workload as the semester wraps up, and they are also preparing for their upcoming finals. This is a time when focus is of utmost importance, but many students find themselves not being able to.

“I found that upon returning to campus, I couldn’t focus, as well,” Bass said.

Madison Barretta, a sophomore during the fall of 2020, felt that the difficult transition outweighed the benefits of being on campus.

“Going home for a week and then coming back only to go home in two weeks just isn’t the best idea when it comes to students’ mental health,” she said.

Furthermore, for many students the time back at school is even more truncated. Some students have finals either prior to or during exam week. Freshman Chris Biniaris finishes finals on the last day of classes, so he plans to fly home on Dec. 9. He said that the short duration at school seemed not worth the transition between home and school.

Student travel costs are also an extremely valid reason to remain at home for the three-week period. A lot of SU students live in faraway locations. SU students come from 120 countries and all 50 states, according to SU.

The cost of traveling home can be very expensive. Additionally, since Thanksgiving is a family-oriented holiday, many families do their best to bring their child home, despite the cost. The burden of two extra transportation costs — travel back to Syracuse after Thanksgiving break and then back home for winter break — for such a short period may not be merited. A transition to remote learning during this post-Thanksgiving period needs further deliberation at the administrative level.

The two weeks of in-person classes is a minimal contribution to a semester of education — much of the content has already been touched on and may remain equally influential and informative on Zoom. Similarly, instructors already have virtual office hours which would parallel a period of Zoom classes.

Remote learning after Thanksgiving break seems appropriate with the current climate of education. Many professors assign final exams in a virtual testing format and essays can typically be written from most locations, therefore SU should permanently implement last year’s schedule and allow students to stay home between Thanksgiving and winter break.

Hannah Karlin is a freshman English major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at hekarlin@syr.edu.

Published on December 6, 2021 at 12:22 am