Give Me a Break

Not to be whiner or anything, but the new semester system at The Ohio State University has basically stressed everyone out to the point of mental, physical and emotional break downs. One of my roommates averages four hours of sleep a night. Another spends her entire day at the Union in hopes of forcing her to study/be productive due to her surroundings. I would like to make a suggestion to President Gee (or anyone who will listen to me, really): give us a break.

Apparently, the average University on semesters has a “fall break” which is a week or so for students to relax and take some time between the beginning of the year and the holidays. Ohio State likes to take its uniqueness and originality beyond the general culture of the school but also in diverging from the trend that is “fall break.”

We’ve made it past the 10 week mark which is when we would normally be finishing up the quarter and leaving for Christmas break. In the 11^th week I find myself more and more distracted by the girl’s haircut that sits in front of me in Econ. I’m spending more and more time on Facebook and less on reading or homework. And I’m developing a fight or flight response to going to class: fight to stay awake or don’t go at all.

And the pattern continues: it’s one of needless distraction followed by a weekend or week of no sleep in which I beat myself up trying to catch up on forgotten or put off work. I’m not blaming semesters for my procrastination and poor habits by any means–but I don’t necessarily think it aids in my focus.

A girl in my CSE class questioned my professor when it was announced that we would have to retake a midterm in a week’s time due to supposed “academic dishonesty.” She was in the back of the classroom and I wasn’t able to see her face but I can imagine her expression as she told us about all of the three midterms she had as well as two homework assignments. Her voice cracked like my mom’s did when she told us my dad had to put the cats down. Now, I do sympathize with this girl and feel for her, however, I don’t think it’s healthy for college students to be crying over school.

Don’t get me wrong, I cry all the time. Mostly because of a hormone imbalance and my need for attention. But when it’s due to stress, especially in this environment, something is wrong. My mother always says college should be one of the best times of my life. I would agree. I am in a bubble of semi-responsibility in which I must manage my own time and yet don’t worry about taxes or job stress. My single effort should be on learning. When you put it into perspective, sitting in a lecture for 55 minutes and retaining that information is something everyone should be able to do. Instead, all of the sudden, people can’t get out of bed at 8 A.M. for lecture or have to pull all-nighters before exams. And I have to ask–what is happening to us?

I just discovered that my opinion entirely changed in writing this. Now I don’t quite know what to do. On one hand all I want is a week off, and on the other hand I think I need to suck it up and manage my time better because in all honesty, college isn’t that hard. Queue the collective heavy sigh. Reality sucks.