The semester ends today. Yeah, that’s right. Who’s bright idea was that? I mean, think about it. After the break, students aren’t exactly in the greatest state of mind. Most of them are either tired, mad at the world that school is starting again, or both. And then they’re just shoehorned right back in, smack in the middle of the grading period.

It’s bad enough that there is Thanksgiving in the middle of the marking period, but then, there’s another, even longer break in the middle of it!

Students are nowhere near ready to get back to work right after the break, and the fact that they are thrown right back into the middle of the grading period makes it even worse.

For example, when I came back to school after the break, all of my teachers started asking for the Homework. And, although all people think completely different things all the time, when the teachers began asking for the homework, we all had the same thought: “Crap”. Seriously. About two people in the room had their homework done, and even that’s being generous.

It went like that the whole day. Geography? Same. Algebra? Same. Biology? Same. English? Same. We all slowly began to come to the horrifying realization that we had actually been assigned homework over the break. I just don’t understand how teachers expect us to remember our homework with two weeks in between classes.

That’s not even the worst problem. From the first core class I walked into, I realized that I had completely forgotten everything that I had done before the break. And in classes like Biology where I barely know what’s going anyway, that can be slightly problematic.

If I had it my way, the semester would end before the holidays, that way when students come in after the break they can be ready to learn something new, and wouldn’t have to risk forgetting everything that they had learned before the break. Yes, it would screw up the lengths of the grading periods, but it would be worth it.