Spring break is a welcomed timeout from learning. However, we should reconsider that Spring BREAK might be referring to the strain this time apart from school puts on our education.
Taking a week off in the middle of our semester is a damaging interruption to the learning process. Most of us are at the edge of our seats ready to drop our books and enjoy the week off without considering the downfalls.
The media tends to portray spring break as this epic party time. Traveling, drinking and partying are promoted ideals, but what about keeping up with our education during this time as well?
When we decide to drop our books and forget about school during this week, we are interrupting our study schedules. We will forget most of what we have been learning because we are not practicing it. Like they say, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
According to German psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus, who developed the concept of the “forgetting curve,” we retain information longer if the memory is stronger. Basically, if we do not have a strong memory of something, we are likely to forget it faster.
Taking time off from our studies will make that information a weak memory, and when we return to classes, we are lost again. Teachers have to take up valuable time reviewing information that has already been taught prior instead of continuing on to the next bit of information.
Furthermore, most of us tend not to stick to our sleep schedule if there’s no reason like school or work to get up early the next morning. A week of staying up late and sleeping in can’t be remedied immediately when we return to school. Our sleep schedules will be off and waking up early for class becomes torment.
It is hard to go back to school once you have tasted the relaxation of doing nothing during spring break. When we return to class, our work ethic has decreased, and it is combined with the stress of relearning prior information and new information at once.
The best thing students can do to avoid the stress of returning to school after a semester break is to maintain their study habits and sleeping schedule throughout the break.
This does not mean you can’t enjoy yourself. Take an hour of the 24-hour day and you still have all those hours of the day to relax or party, whatever fancies you.
