COURTNEY HUNDSETH
Opinions Writer

Whenever I think of spring break, I picture a clan of Frat-boys yelling manly chants, fist pumping, donning Tapout or Ed Hardy —shirts optional — and bragging about how many babes they’re going to bone in Cabo San Lucas.

I’m pretty sure there are enough “reality” television shows out that prove this, and enough douches to think this scenario would be the best time of their life.

I, on the other hand, never want to see that much inflated muscle, nor hear the word “brah.” I typically steer away from the D-bag hotspots like Cabo, Cancun or Miami Beach.

When you think about it, it seems a bit odd to have a break in February when Christmas break has just concluded. It left me wondering: What’s the purpose behind Reading Week?

Rumour is that Reading Week was originally implemented to prevent suicide. In the 52 weeks of the year, this was the week where most suicides allegedly took place. So technically, Reading Week is just a sugar-coated title for “Please-don’t-kill-yourself-week.”

Whether it’s midterm stress, the end of a depressing winter, the ugly grey-shaded transition to spring, or not receiving a Valentine’s Day card from that babe you’ve been eyeing up all year, it’s hard to say what exactly leads to this suicide-happy week.

Initially, professors were not actually supposed to assign anything during Reading Week — but somewhere along the line it became the week that all of our midterms straddle. Our society can be so smart.

I am pretty sure the whole “try-not-to-kill-yourself” aspect of the week was a little subverted by that move. Perhaps it’s so depressing because it’s not quite spring, but not quite winter — sort of a limbo between the two.

If you ask me, and most likely every other student in Canada, we should not be given midterms or have anything due immediately before or after the break. Who honestly wants to spend their entire week studying for three midterms that occur the day after the break?

Reading Week should be an optional catch-up period, if necessary. As students, we continually stress about what there is to do; never caught up, there is always a massive and growing to-do list lingering in our brains.

So perhaps we ought to go back to the original intention of Reading Week: no assignments, projects, mid-terms, or homework. I think we deserve it.

So whether it be mingling with your Douche-buddies and cheersing to all the babes you plan on hooking up with in Cancun, or simply staying at home to read in hopes of “catching up” with school work, the break should be just that: a break from school.

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image: Flickr