YES
BY SOPHIA PADUANO
Students should be given more time off during winter break. Winter break is a crucial time of year for opportunities to be given for loved ones to get together. College students’ breaks may differ from high school or middle school students. For these reasons when students come home for the holidays it may be hard for them to spend time with family if their sibling is already returning to school. Extending their break would be beneficial for the mental health of students, teachers, and all other school employees. A longer break would give students more to relax and rewind. I think it’s important for students to give themselves goals and new productive routines to start the year off right. This creates a more successful school year. With a shorter winter break, it may be difficult to get everything together in a rush. Traveling during the break is extremely popular and many take this time to visit family. Winter break is considered a valuable time for students and for families to reconnect, share and create great memories together. Winter break can be beneficial for mental and physical health. School can be very overwhelming and hard on students so the given time for a break is essential to a student’s well-being. Without the time off and going right back to school can be very difficult for students. This time of year midterms and studying for final tests can be very stressful. Students getting the time to rest after all that hard work is crucial.
NO
BY JOSH STOLL
Winter break should not be extended because schools need the educational time and students are already receiving enough time off throughout the year. Schools are already struggling to meet education standards in time for exams such as the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), (End-of-Course) EOC, Advanced Placement (AP) and AICE exams. An entire year’s worth of lessons has to be shoved into a timeframe to meet exam deadlines, usually in April. This forces schools to rush the student learning process and students need help understanding a lot of information. Many students do not do well on the exams. Making winter break longer will overall keep students from learning crucial information that they need to pass these exams and also succeed in the classroom and in their future. Students already get a week off for thanksgiving, another week off during spring break and many free days throughout the year. Winter break is currently the most extended period of time off throughout the year besides summer, so extending this will give students time that in reality, they do not genuinely need. Also, many students are struggling academically because of the setback in education due to the pandemic. Another reason that winter break should not be extended is that students tend to forget previous lessons that were learned before the break and if the time was longer students’ academic achievements would all go down the drain and teachers would have to spend time reviewing and it would overall bring more rush to teachers lesson plans. In the end, winter break should not be longer than it already is.
