Are frequent breaks helpful?

Summer break has been shrinking over the past few years in our district, compensated by additional three-day weekends and an entire week off in February. I assume the district made these changes thinking that several more off-days throughout the school year are more helpful than a few lengthy breaks, but are they?

As breaks happen more frequently, the school year has become more tolerable, with more opportunities to pause from school and relax. Alternatively, it can be said that we need to rebound into a learning mindset more often as part of a repetitive cycle. 

I’ve personally found it taxing to bounce back after every break; having to get back into the mood to work made me miss the peace I had on off-days so much more. Coming back from winter break, I knew that I was completely capable of handling the incoming workload; I’ve been in my classes for nearly four months after all. It’s just that I don’t have the same enthusiasm to do my assignments.

After lockdown, districts nationwide gradually began implementing numerous measures in response to the slump in work ethic. Through more off-days, simpler grading scales, forgiving deadlines, and other methods, they provided the necessary means to help students leaving distance learning gradually adjust to the in-person, on-demand commitment. 

I think these lenient changes were supportive for me to build an increasing sense of agency, but it was still difficult because lockdown ingrained an apathy towards work. However, I found that with the increased freedom and autonomy, this relaxed approach also helped me figure out what I actually liked to do, and how I would go on pursuing it. Frequent breaks contributed to a gradual development of a desire for working towards a goal by helping me relax from school and organize myself. 

I think I’ve also grown to depend on off-days, since they’ve become the makeshift “check point” I look forward to every week, semester, and holiday season. So not only have they been helpful but almost necessary among these increasingly permanent post-lockdown changes 

Generally, I believe frequent breaks are helpful. As part of the wave of changes we got post-lockdown, they’ve helped us to slowly grow into school life in person again. A shorter summer break might also help against completely forgetting what we learned the year before, and off-days sprinkled throughout the year eliminate oppressively long intervals of school.