Spring Break
Talking Heads
DC COLUMNISTS DEBATE: Bunched midterms before spring break
Matt Stevens and Bryan Carroll
Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: Commentary
In favor of bunched midterms:
Matt Stevens
• Midterms should be right before spring break because most of us work hard from the beginning of the semester, and this gives us a chance to get some rest over spring break without midterm exams looming over us.
• With exams beforehand, students get an early assessment of their study habits and they get to see if what they're doing has been working. If not, they get more time to fix it and make up for it.
• Professors also get an early assessment of how they're teaching the class, which is especially helpful for them if they haven't taught the class before. That way, they have spring break and the rest of the semester to make the changes and help the students more.
• If you're going to be having all these exams at once, it will teach you time management skills, and expose you to demands of the real world.
• It's not likely that incoming freshmen will have a good grasp of time management skills because they haven't been exposed to this kind of work before, and there is no harm in giving juniors or seniors more practice with this. Since midterms in the fall are usually between weeks 6-9 of the semester and in the spring they are usually between weeks 4-7, they sneak up on you quickly, and this is an incentive to buckle down before break.
Against bunched midterms:
Bryan Carroll
• The midterm process should start after spring break because it allows students to use spring break to study. Some students might work during spring break, but it might allow some students to recuperate as well. It is a rejuvenation period that every student wants and needs.
• Midterms aren't the only assessments in particular courses. Some classes have weekly quizzes as well as other assignments that give the students an assessment of where they are grade-wise as well as material-wise. Midterms are not the only gauge of students' progress.
• The reason office hours were set up for faculty members and advisors is to allow students to see them outside of the lecture time, so as far as teachers using spring break to rework their lectures, there is more time to do so than just that one week. The professor should utilize his or her office hours. That allows them a better gauge than just spring break.
• I think that students as well as faculty members have a good understanding of time management, by now especially because they are in a research-oriented college. Prior to spring break, students are just thinking about spring break and not exams. Spring break allows students to regroup and come back with a fresh viewpoint and new energy.
• Spreading midterms out after break allows the students to have more days to comprehend the material. It is better to have time to understand the material than learn it half-heartedly. Midterms after spring break would allow students and faculty to have a break and allows the students to partake in other activities that would boost their morale and take the time that's necessary to study rather than just going to the beach.
Matt Stevens
• Midterms should be right before spring break because most of us work hard from the beginning of the semester, and this gives us a chance to get some rest over spring break without midterm exams looming over us.
• With exams beforehand, students get an early assessment of their study habits and they get to see if what they're doing has been working. If not, they get more time to fix it and make up for it.
• Professors also get an early assessment of how they're teaching the class, which is especially helpful for them if they haven't taught the class before. That way, they have spring break and the rest of the semester to make the changes and help the students more.
• If you're going to be having all these exams at once, it will teach you time management skills, and expose you to demands of the real world.
• It's not likely that incoming freshmen will have a good grasp of time management skills because they haven't been exposed to this kind of work before, and there is no harm in giving juniors or seniors more practice with this. Since midterms in the fall are usually between weeks 6-9 of the semester and in the spring they are usually between weeks 4-7, they sneak up on you quickly, and this is an incentive to buckle down before break.
Against bunched midterms:
Bryan Carroll
• The midterm process should start after spring break because it allows students to use spring break to study. Some students might work during spring break, but it might allow some students to recuperate as well. It is a rejuvenation period that every student wants and needs.
• Midterms aren't the only assessments in particular courses. Some classes have weekly quizzes as well as other assignments that give the students an assessment of where they are grade-wise as well as material-wise. Midterms are not the only gauge of students' progress.
• The reason office hours were set up for faculty members and advisors is to allow students to see them outside of the lecture time, so as far as teachers using spring break to rework their lectures, there is more time to do so than just that one week. The professor should utilize his or her office hours. That allows them a better gauge than just spring break.
• I think that students as well as faculty members have a good understanding of time management, by now especially because they are in a research-oriented college. Prior to spring break, students are just thinking about spring break and not exams. Spring break allows students to regroup and come back with a fresh viewpoint and new energy.
• Spreading midterms out after break allows the students to have more days to comprehend the material. It is better to have time to understand the material than learn it half-heartedly. Midterms after spring break would allow students and faculty to have a break and allows the students to partake in other activities that would boost their morale and take the time that's necessary to study rather than just going to the beach.
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paul
posted 2/20/09 @ 6:51 PM EST
Midterms are hard? A lot of classes have 3 exams so its spread out anyway. Again, is college hard? thought not.
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