OPINION & EDITORIAL
Students need time after Thanksgiving
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Emily Friedman:
- Tenure at paper teaches, changes (May 10, 2007)
- Straight or gay, hire either way (May 3, 2007)
- Tragedy provides opportunity to re-evaluate nation's violent culture (April 19, 2007)
- Anti-abortion methods go too far (March 29, 2007)
- 'Don't ask, don't tell' hypocritical (March 15, 2007)
Related Stories:
- College strains old friendships (November 28, 2006)
- Turkey day trouble (November 20, 2003)
- Thanksgiving break necessary to experience American culture (November 9, 2006)
- Will our ideals be hijacked by fear? (November 7, 2003)
- Give me a break (September 30, 2004)
by Emily Friedman
Friday, December 3, 2004
As I said goodbye to my parents at New York’s LaGuardia airport this past Sunday, my mom’s eyes filled with tears, as they usually do, and I reminded her I would be back home again in just three short weeks. Then I heard what I was saying. Why am I traveling half way across the country another time to go back to school for only three weeks?
These three weeks leading up to winter break have to be the most awkward, frustrating and jam-packed weeks of the semester.
First, these are the weeks when most of the students are busy registering for classes. Although the insanity of the enrollment system deserves a column of its own, it is one of the reasons for the chaos that exists on campus during this stretch of time in Madison. Many of my friends have compared the online registering system to a drug addiction: you just can’t stop.
No, really, today I found myself rushing through my shower to run back and check the timetable as soon as the webpage had refreshed. My friends stop in the library on their way to class to see if any classes have opened up since they left their apartments. Students plead with professors via e-mail and stop in at office hours to get the numbers to register for their classes. This is only the beginning of the craziness that is UW.
Second, it has started to get colder. No, it’s not as cold as it will be second semester (let’s not think about that right now), but it is significantly colder than before Thanksgiving break. Here in lies the dilemma: tough it out in that infamous black fleece or graduate to your winter coat.
Sporting your winter coat poses a problem for the rest of the bitter cold winter, when even that coat will seem less than satisfactory for the below zero temperatures. Also, it is during these three weeks that the different lecture halls and buildings have not all decided how to regulate their heat. One of my friends today came back in a full sweat from a class in Grainger; her lecture hall had the heat blasting because of the onset of some of the coldest weather this semester.
So you bundle up and sweat both on your way to class and while in class, or you brave the cold and risk frostbite and a runny nose.
Third and last, everything that interested you pre-Thanksgiving is boring and repetitive. Faced with upcoming finals, we all have to “buckle down” and do the reading we have been putting off since September. Those long-term projects are now next week projects, and all of sudden we all have to figure out how, exactly, to research through the UW library.
Along with all of this schoolwork, we do not even get a reading week, like many other universities. Many schools have a full week in between the end of classes and exams to study and finalize projects and do overdue readings. Here at UW we just jump right into the swing of finals, at 7:45am, to be exact.
Is there any way to solve these problems? A way to get rid of the semester itch? A way to stop daydreaming about anywhere with weather above 65 degrees?
Debatable.
Obviously, we can’t reschedule Thanksgiving. We can’t completely change the enrollment system. We can’t cancel final exams. We can, however, beg and plead for at least a little bit of a change.
Why not give us a reading week to catch up on our work from the semester? If professors and TA’s knew about this before the semester began they could schedule accordingly. This would assure that the semester did not expand to remove part of our winter break. Perhaps if the administration prohibited even fifth-year seniors from registering until after finals, these three weeks would be less chaotic, and people could obsess over the timetable when they didn’t have other responsibilities like papers and exams.
These few adjustments would make the upcoming three weeks a little more pleasant. We aren’t asking for anything drastic, just a little more time to gather ourselves together: a less rushed, frantic end to our semester. So instead of cramming all month at the library, taking a few exams within a few hours of one another and then quickly packing and traveling home for the holidays, we would have a little more time to prepare for our exams while having something resembling a life. Until then, hang on for the ride the rest of this semester is sure to be.
Emily Friedman (ecfriedman@wisc.edu) is a sophomore intending to major in journalism.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 9:38am):
Here's an idea. Don't wait until the last minute to read stuff for your classes. Then you don't need a whole week to read and catch up. School isn't supposed to be easy.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 9:59am):
I agree with the first comment, nothing is easy. The real world is approaching you fast and there is no rest for the wicked as they say.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 12:29pm):
If you plan ahead, the enrollment system is really not that hard. Yes, it is complicated, because UW offers more classes than your average high school. Perhaps there should be a better, easier way for students to indicate classes they wanted to take, but were full, so that the departments could make an attempt to add more sections. But beyond that there's really not much they can do.
And I agree with the first 2 commenters- stay caught up throughout the semester, then you don't have to get caught up at the end.
Patrick Klemz (December 3, 2004 @ 2:21pm):
For those of you who haven't faced the real world yet...
COLLEGE IS EASY.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 2:34pm):
For those of you who haven't actually gone to class in college yet...
THE REAL WORLD IS EASY.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 7:04pm):
The major problem with the "catch up weeks" is they are never used for catching up. Look at Northwestern's study week, or what Illinois students do during their week off for Thanksgiving. I graduated last year, but I can tell you my friends and I would have used the time to work more hours so we could have some extra cash and to blow that extra cash getting plastered.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 7:06pm):
get in a boo-hoo canoe and cry a river already. the author might consider next thanksgiving, as she's flying home to new york's la guardia airport, that some people don't have the luxury of spending the holiday with their families because they are busy working to pay their tuition. odds are that anyone flying to the east coast for a paltry long weekend has few worries compared to most students at this campus. with regards to the complaints in the article, they're what are known as facts of life.
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 7:36pm):
good god another emily submission. i will now read it lol
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 7:44pm):
OK emily, here's the deal...when you write an editorial you need structure:
1. thesis - w/ brief explanation of main points
2. explain your main points
3. acknowledge the opposition
4. conclude with a thesis restatement
It's all very simple. You need not be rigid about it, but following some structure makes it easier to read.
Finally, know your audience. Are you intentionally writing as if you are talking to a fellow NY'er?
Best wishes,
a JBA
Patrick Klemz (December 3, 2004 @ 10:26pm):
"4. conclude with a thesis restatement"
Ugh, I wouldn't include this as a rule to column writing. If it's not done properly it sounds either cheeseball or didactic.
Personally, use the closing paragraph to either muse or bash.
-a JBS (science forevah)
Anonymous (December 3, 2004 @ 11:36pm):
Yes, summary would have been a better term to use, as thesis reeks of English class. Either way, it should be tied together no matter how you do it.
I am just trying to help poor Emily here. She seems to mean well, but to get a good job she will need to learn structure (or have a nice rack).
-hate science so I added a JD.
Anonymous (December 4, 2004 @ 2:51am):
Hey Emily, I don't know about you, but I don't want to have our semester start a week or two earlier just so you can have a week to cram your reading in before finals. The school has a certain amount of hours that each class must meet, and under your idea, you'd be forcing us to start class sometime around mid August. Not to mention the fact that you'd probably just procrastinate during that 'reading week' until the last few days of it anyways.
Also, the school isn't exactly forcing you to go home to see your family during Thanksgiving. YOU are making that decision. If you don't like traveling all the way across the country to see your family, well, maybe you shouldn't be going to school ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY from where you live! Smart thinking there.
Finally, about the registration process. I'm a 5th year student here, and I've lived through the wonderful registration item that was known as the 'touch-tone lady'. The online registration that we have now is vastly better than the process that students had to register under 4 years ago. Now only did you have to register over the phone, which cost money for the phone call, but the time table only refreshed at 4:00 each morning. Now it refreshes at least every 15 minutes. Give me a break...if you think its hard now, I want to hear your ideas about how to fix it, and how that would be 'easier'. One final note about registration. You have to have students register before finals. Otherwise, no one could plan out their next semester for jobs, extra-curriculars, etc. If you'd like a week's notice on your schedule for the next 15 weeks, fine with me...but I'll take the few minutes of hassle to schedule near the end of the semester, so that I can plan out my next semester, and make changes to that schedule if necessary.
In short, your column was absolutely worthless. You not only have no valid points, but you offer absolutely no logical solution to fix what you consider problems. I understand that you write in the opinion section of the paper, and that you were just stating your opinion. But, my opinion is that you are WRONG and RIDICULOUS.
Anonymous (December 4, 2004 @ 3:04am):
Ah yes, the wonderful ole days of calling up and hearing "Welcome to UW touchtone registration."
or the dreaded:
"THIS SECTION IS CLOSED"
"THIS SECTION IS CLOSED"
"I don't recognize your entry, please try again."
Anonymous (December 4, 2004 @ 2:00pm):
Hey freshman, STFU! A column about the obvious, lacking wit, is retarded.
Anonymous (December 5, 2004 @ 6:18pm):
You know what else would make things easier for us poor, overworked students? Some suggestions:
1) Finals could be cancelled.
2) Term papers could be optional.
3) Beer could be served at every class.
4) The university could just give us our degrees, no work required, and for the low, low price of $19.95.
Anonymous (December 5, 2004 @ 11:44pm):
Honestly, Emily needs to go sit on a bench on Lake Mendota and have an existential and journalistic awakening. Her articles follow the same framework of endless complaining in no particular direction. Why is she writing? What was accomplished in this writing? Good lord it gets cold in Wisconsin? Truly a revelation. And damn those technicians who run the heat in the classrooms, they are truly oppressive. I do however agree that Emily should be alotted a time before the rest of us to register for all of her classes. A class, being full???? Thats just not fair! How could these other students be so unthoughtful? The only solution you offered was to have fifth year students register after finals?? That is a very idiotic notion. Quit complaining Emily. Think of all the underprivelaged people in the world. What right do you have to complain? There are many students who wish they could afford to go to a University like ours, and who are you to complain that it gets cold and its hard to register for classes. You have an extremely fortunate disposition, at least pretend that you have a diverse world view. Come face to face with a homeless child living off of welfare, tell him it gets cold in Wisconsin, how trivial your bitching is.
Anonymous (November 17, 2005 @ 8:25pm):
MEOWWWW
