EDITORIAL- Give us a break and we’ll be thankful

It can’t just be the turkey. Maybe it’s the family. Perhaps it’s just the idea of going home… It can’t just be the turkey. Maybe it’s the family. Perhaps it’s just the idea of going home — more importantly, leaving Pitt. Whatever the reason, Pitt students appear to be happier than ever that it’s Thanksgiving break.

Pitt students, faculty and staff have not enjoyed such an honor since Sept. 6 — Labor Day — just one week after classes began on Aug. 30. That means we’ve endured 78 days of non-stop academic pursuit. Thank goodness for this five-day pause to pursue happiness and some good food.

If we could reorganize the calendar, the fall semester would start promptly in the third week of August. Not only would there be no classes on Labor Day, but Columbus Day as well. The justification for an early start? Why, an early finish. Classes and exams would end before Thanksgiving, and students would not be expected to return until classes started again the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Yes, this is another valid plea for Pitt to reorganize the University calendar. It may sound like a case of LSS — lazy student syndrome — but the current setup does not benefit anyone.

At the University of Michigan, fall classes began on Sept. 7 — the day after Labor Day. A fall study break gave students an extended weekend in mid-October, pausing classes on Oct. 18-19. Thanksgiving recess starts on Nov. 24, and classes for the semester end on Tuesday, Dec. 14. But wait, it gets even better. After classes end, the rest of that week is a designated study time before finals start. Exams end on Dec. 23, so the winter recess is shorter than ours. But the winter semester at the University of Michigan — the equivalent to our spring semester — ends at the same time as our spring semester. But, of course, we do not have designated study days before finals.

Who knows why we can’t adopt a similar schedule?

All we do know is that Pitt’s campus has been looking forward to tomorrow ever since Sept. 7. Since we only get one official day off per semester, the excitement is not unwarranted — it’s to be expected. Another expectation is that people will be absent from class today. Some students are trying to get one extra day with the family. Others just want to get off campus and out of Oakland as soon as they possibly can.

And once we get back, the consensus will be that the break wasn’t long enough. The fatigue of the semester will not have been slept off. The chapters of reading will not have been completed, and the papers and essays will not have been written. In fact, the hustle and bustle of traveling, spending time with the family, cheering for the Panthers during the Backyard Brawl and avoiding the crowds on Black Friday will have replaced class and work. That’s the big deception, folks: There is no break.

So enjoy your turkey dinners with a healthy side of spite this week, and start the countdown until winter recess.