I personally love the No­vember break. Why? Because by that time, midterms are over. Also, finals are still a few weeks away, so there is no need to stress about it yet.

Yes, the end of the term looms, but you still have generally three weeks left of classes. The time left is plenty enough to address your end of term projects and start thinking about preparing for your finals if they are earlier in the exam period. There’s no need to stress about finals until December — so save your time, and renewed en­ergy thanks to the break, for your end of term projects.

The November break is a much-needed week of calm, giving students a break to recover from midterm mad­ness before entering the end-of-term insanity. The February break falls flat be­cause of its timing: right smack in the middle of the term. As the author admitted, “we will keep telling ourselves that we’re going to finish the essay that is due after the break or study for that loom­ing midterm — knowing full well we will not.”

The above quote is exactly why the February break is not the better break. I have fallen into this trap many times, and this most recent break saw me procrastinate with my to-do list more than I care to admit.

Oftentimes, midterms are scheduled the week after the break, but how can one pos­sibly relax when they have midterms to study for during the “break?” The November break carries a smaller chance of having midterms or assign­ments scheduled the week when you come back. Any end-of-term stuff is probably not happening until the last week of November or first week of December.

Not to mention the fact that we don’t need a break in Oc­tober. We have only been in school for roughly six weeks. By then, we still have enough energy and motivation from the summer, nicer weather and Thanksgiving long week­end to get us through.

We can enjoy a week off in early November to recov­er from the hell that is mid­terms.

In my first year, I had four midterms scheduled the week after the February break and it was absolutely awful. Perhaps the February break could actually be a break if professors were mandated to schedule midterms before the break, not after.

This scheduling issue is a common problem that I’ve heard from students who lament about all the stuff they have to do over the break. Their classes have pushed ev­erything to the week that they come back instead of having midterms during the first two weeks of February when they should rightfully occur.

The professional colleges cannot implement a week off in term one regardless of when it occur and has noth­ing to do with the break oc­curring in November versus October, and it’s merely a consequence of their course schedules and the limited timespan of term one due to the Christmas break.

Perhaps even the rest of us would prefer to be done with classes, and by extension, exams, sooner in term one instead of having that break. But for now, the November break’s biggest success is the reprieve it gives us from mid­term madness, and I think it should be here to stay.

This op-ed was written by a University of Saskatchewan undergraduate student and reflects the views and opinions of the writer. If you would like to write a rebuttal, please email opinions@thesheaf.com.

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Bryce Bulgis

Graphic: Shawna Langer/ Graphics Editor