What do OHSers Think About this Year's Longer Winter Break?

Who doesn’t love winter break? The long days spent skiing, catching up with the family, and indulging in everything we didn’t have time to do during school. However, not all winter breaks are made equal—while the average winter break in brick-and-mortar schools lasts around 2 weeks, at OHS we are fortunate to enjoy 3 full weeks of vacation (and a reading week with no classes!). Our winter break hasn’t always been so drawn-out, however. This year marks the start of an extended winter break and a late start to the spring semester. Would this benefit OHS students after the chaos of finals and a long fall semester? Surely, students would be delighted at the extra week of sleeping in? It turns out that students’ reactions to this additional week of rest are much more complicated than one would initially assume. 

40 students were surveyed through a survey posted on the student bulletin, with the option to respond anonymously. Of these students, 31 claimed that the extended break this year benefitted them, while 9 replied “no” or “maybe,” showing that a longer break doesn’t necessarily result in benefits for everyone. 

But it certainly affects a majority positively. From the collected data, it seems that the reason why students don’t love the longer winter break is that it makes getting back on track with school harder. Of 39 students that were asked whether or not the longer break made it harder for them to re-adjust, 9 replied “yes” and 3 replied “maybe”. 

Given worries about returning to the fast-paced learning environment that is OHS, what do students think is the optimal break length? Student opinions of the best vacation length reflect the above trends, with most students stating that 3-4 weeks is an optimal break length, but some still voiced concerns about the effect of a long break on courses. An anonymous senior stated:

“The later start gave me time to finish up some more last-minute college applications, but I think two weeks is the ideal winter break length. I struggled to get back into academics and I prefer to stay in the swing of things.”

So while the longer break has its pros, it has its cons too. Although a longer break gives us more time to relax, the adjustment to school can be harder because of it. In a personal interview with an anonymous OHS student, they claimed that:

“While it was nice to have so much time to relax, sleep, see family, etc., I felt like I forgot so much of what we had covered in the first semester during that time.” 

“Especially in regards to language classes (I am taking Chinese), I noticed that I forgot much of the vocabulary that we had learned.”

As a Chinese student, I agree that vocabulary must be practiced regularly, and the longer you take time off, the more you forget. But let’s consider another point for a moment: what about the teachers? An anonymous student noticed how OHS is not only a challenging experience for students but for teachers too, and this break gives them the necessary time to grade work and recharge. In light of OHS students’ many extracurricular activities and teachers’ personal lives, I think we can all agree that these 3 weeks are as close to an optimal vacation length as we’re going to get. 

However the issue of getting back into the school routine remains, and this is more pressing for language classes where retaining vocabulary is everything. I would like to propose a solution: perhaps during the winter break, teachers could provide optional materials that don’t count towards our grade (so they don’t have more work themselves) that can help us keep up-to-date on our materials if we wish to do so. This way, students could enjoy their longer breaks without the worry of forgetting material.