Thanksgiving Is No Longer Thanksgiving

By Alex McArthy

It’s the end of the semester, which can only mean one thing; finals.
Outlined on every syllabus is information about final exams and final papers. This is for those exceptionally good students who plan ahead and start their papers two months or more before they are do. This is a must for senior projects, which can be 30 pages or more long. But as for the rest of us, this is not the case.

With less than two weeks left before the end of the semester, it is crunch time and the five day holiday break is anything but. The majority of papers and class projects are due during the last week of class before exams. What this means for the majority of students is a Thanksgiving “break” that involves hours of Wikipedia, pages upon pages of writing, and plenty of Red Bull.

As for me I have three 10-page papers due by December 1. I also have two group projects. Thanks to my procrastination I have not started any of it. This is all in the wake of Thanksgiving, and studying for colossal finals. I know I am not the only in this position. Every other status on Facebook is students letting the world know that they are in crisis mode. Some have it worse than I. The two breaks, only weeks apart, puts the academic schedule in a tight spot. It forces professors to place the bulk of the grades in these two weeks. So that does not imply just one class that is back-weighted but five or six.

What this means is Thanksgiving break – a time meant for family, friends, and of course turkey – becomes one of stress, deadlines, and writer’s cramp. There really is not much that could be done on the professor’s side to keep this from happening. It would be nearly impossible for the professors to successfully coordinate due dates. Moving the school year to start two weeks earlier would also be a problem, cutting short the all-important summer break.

I think the best solution falls on the shoulders of the students. The solution would be to take a look at each class’ syllabus and pinpoint the large papers or projects that you can tackle first. Then write down a timeline in which you outline all your papers, when you start, drafts, and finally the date of completion. Also, most importantly, keep up with the readings and schoolwork throughout the semester, that way you do not have to cram them in while everything else is due. This way we can actually enjoy our Thanksgiving break, digging into good food, not books. Looks like I should take some of my own suggestions

Alex McArthy is a sophomore political science major from St. Louis, Missouri. He is an RHA National Communications Coordinator, president of the Cougar Crazies, a Public Safety supervisor and an SXU Student Ambassador. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.