By: Katie Nelson

Media Production Editor

The holidays are one of the most exciting times of the year. No matter what you celebrate during the holiday season, it is a time for family and friends to enjoy time together. If your family is anything like mine, the holidays are jam-packed with activities to complete before the precious two weeks are over. However, in the past few years we’ve only had a few days off before Christmas, instead having almost two weeks off following Dec. 25, which I believe needs to be changed to accommodate the Christmas holiday. I argue no matter the day Christmas falls on, we should have a standard amount of time given to us before Christmas Day. 

Currently, the days of our break are allocated depending on what day Christmas falls on, and unfortunately in the past few years it has fallen on a weekend, so we end up only having Thursday and Friday off before our break. This year, we are released from school on Dec. 22, only three short days before Christmas.

Oftentimes, relatives come before the holidays, not after, and having only a few days before Christmas does not grant students enough time to spend with loved ones. Not only do students have fewer days to spend with relatives,  they are also busier than ever studying and preparing for tests. 

Additionally, many activities during break fall before Christmas. Christmas shopping, baking, gift-making, decorating, and more are all done in anticipation of Christmas. Why would we be given only a couple days for that, but weeks to do nothing at home? While New Year’s is a holiday that occurs later on in the break, recently we’ve had an entire week off following Dec. 31. I still love having a break and would never complain about having time off, but I would argue that many people would prefer to have their days off more evenly distributed surrounding the holidays. 

According to World Schools, high schools in America have a break that “typically begins the week before Christmas (Dec. 25) and ends shortly after New Year’s Day.” While all breaks vary school to school, our break is fairly late compared to that of the average high school. Instead of having a week off before Christmas, we are suffering through finals instead. 

Our days off are determined by which day Christmas falls, to ensure that we have a full week of finals. While it does work and while we should be allocated a full week for finals, it is not convenient for the years where Christmas falls on a weekend or at the beginning of the week. The school should plan our schedule so that we have a minimum number of days granted to us before Christmas regardless of the day Christmas falls. To ensure finals aren’t cut off midweek, they should happen a week before in those cases.

(Sources: World Schools)