Spring break - uh oh

4,761 Views | 46 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by selk
texasaggie04
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scd88 said:

milner79 said:

Recognizing Texas Independence Day?! That's a first, true?


Yeah, I like this part.


I felt like this part was a consolation prize. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but to me it feels like somebody said "give them a holiday so we can say we offered more time off. But make it midweek so it's more challenging for them to leave town. And go ahead and make it Texas themed to appeal to our audience."
TexasAggie_02
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scd88 said:

milner79 said:

Recognizing Texas Independence Day?! That's a first, true?


Yeah, I like this part.


I doubt the university admin gives a crap about Texas independence day. They picked it bc it's a Tuesday and hope that people will just hang around town.

In regards to no spring break, if a large proportion of students are taking online classes, then they will just leave town anyway. They can log in from Padre just as easily as College Station.
jja79
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Do you know of any business that gives everyone the same week off?

This might be the ultimate first world problem.
chickencoupe16
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Stupe said:

If you think that "most" of the people that were at home were just kicking back, taking time off, and not working....you are completely clueless as to what they were doing.

That is as polite as I can say that.


Just as I know my wife worked hard as a remote teacher, I know that there were plenty of non-essential University employees who did as well. At the same time, I know our nonessential roommate slept in until 10AM, went on 2 walks a day, watched every season of Survivor, and even managed to sneak in several Zoom happy hours with his colleagues.
MiMi
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Quote:

While the university is still, technically, "open" during SB, the staff usually get a couple or three days of holiday and the 2-3 days they are in the office are pretty light and many choose to take vacation.
Yep. Spring Break has been a 1 to 3 day staff holiday for many years. Shouldn't affect them significantly.

Historically, with no classes scheduled during Spring Break, faculty will have the week off or take the whole week off, depending on their FTE appointment and/or leave balance.

This change may not significantly affect working parents if they already planned to take the time off, unless it's a faculty member who now, unexpectantly, has to be available for classes. Scrambling for childcare is going to suck!
skeetboy3
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TexasAggie_02 said:

scd88 said:

milner79 said:

Recognizing Texas Independence Day?! That's a first, true?


Yeah, I like this part.


I doubt the university admin gives a crap about Texas independence day. They picked it bc it's a Tuesday and hope that people will just hang around town.

In regards to no spring break, if a large proportion of students are taking online classes, then they will just leave town anyway. They can log in from Padre just as easily as College Station.
Spring Break, like all university holidays (not celebrated by the State) are actually rearranged state holidays. We celebrate Texas Independence Day on one of the days of Spring Break. Same with Labor Day and a few others--It is why TAMU has the whole Christmas Break off.
MiMi
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Quote:

Spring Break, like all university holidays (not celebrated by the State) are actually rearranged state holidays. We celebrate Texas Independence Day on one of the days of Spring Break. Same with Labor Day and a few others--It is why TAMU has the whole Christmas Break off.
Agreed. As a long-term faculty member (now retired), I remember not having Labor Day or Memorial Day off. However, having the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day made it much more palatable. My kids had these holidays and others (ie: Columbus Day) off of school when I had classes to teach, but we made it work.
lost my dog
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Hmm, we are going 14 weeks straight this fall term, and no one is complaining. Students seem to be surviving. Why should it be any different in the spring?

The staff/ISD issue happens every year. ISD gives the week off, staff only get Thurs/Fri off in normal times. Yes, I understand finding child care isn't easy. This year is only marginally different.

Faculty who travel during spring break - sorry, live with it. All conferences have gone virtual. Sorry you can't do your spring mini-mester junket study-abroad.

Students who are upset they can't go to South Padre/Gulf Shores/the Yucatan - did you not hear about the UT greeks who did a spring break trip and made Austin a covid hotspot? Sorry, life isn't fair.

This should be a non-issue. Academic calendars hold on to conventions we no longer follow. We have the summer off because summer was harvest time. How many students are helping out with harvest anymore? (yes some Ags, and probably more than any other school in the state, but still a small minority of the student body.) Spring break was supposed to give Easter week off, so we could participate in the Triduum. We rarely match up with Easter now, and so we have the "reading day" on Good Friday.

As other commentators have said, people who hold spring break sacred need to work for a while in a non-academic job

Smeghead4761
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As someone who attended a trimester school as an undergrad, I never really understood the need for a spring break in a semester system. (In the trimester system, spring break is between winter and spring terms.) School goes on just fine without a week long break in the fall semester, so why does it exist in the spring? Nobody needs to go home to plant crops.

Spring break exists because of tradition and the expectations generated by that tradition. This applies to K-12 just as much as college.

(Personally, I'm in favor of running schools - K through PhD - year round. 4 terms of 11 weeks each, followed by a 2 week break. 4 x (11+2) = 52 weeks.)


And for jja79: In Europe, it's quite common for businesses to shut down completely for 2-3 weeks and everyone goes on vacation. (I remember when I was stationed in Germany, back in the day when you could still buy guns at the Rod & Gun clubs there, I wanted a Sig P220 that they didn't have in stock. I had to wait 3 weeks because the whole Sig factory was on vacation.)

The Army does it as well - usually 2 weeks 'block leave' in the summer and 2 weeks at Christmas/New Year.
cavscout96
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lost my dog said:

Hmm, we are going 14 weeks straight this fall term, and no one is complaining. Students seem to be surviving. Why should it be any different in the spring?

The staff/ISD issue happens every year. ISD gives the week off, staff only get Thurs/Fri off in normal times. Yes, I understand finding child care isn't easy. This year is only marginally different.

Faculty who travel during spring break - sorry, live with it. All conferences have gone virtual. Sorry you can't do your spring mini-mester junket study-abroad.

Students who are upset they can't go to South Padre/Gulf Shores/the Yucatan - did you not hear about the UT greeks who did a spring break trip and made Austin a covid hotspot? Sorry, life isn't fair.

This should be a non-issue. Academic calendars hold on to conventions we no longer follow. We have the summer off because summer was harvest time. How many students are helping out with harvest anymore? (yes some Ags, and probably more than any other school in the state, but still a small minority of the student body.) Spring break was supposed to give Easter week off, so we could participate in the Triduum. We rarely match up with Easter now, and so we have the "reading day" on Good Friday.

As other commentators have said, people who hold spring break sacred need to work for a while in a non-academic job


???

harvest is usually in the fall. Planting in the spring. Summer off likely had more to do with both the farm labor requirements in rural areas and heat in the urban areas.

see here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/09/04/myth-behind-summer-break/
jja79
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This isn't Europe.
chigger
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I work for TAMU and I see no issue with the Spring Break days. Its been anywhere from 1-4 days in the past. If I want/need to take Spring Break off I will use the vacation hours I've accumulated and clear it with my supervisor. If not, I work. Whether its 1 or 5 days that week doesn't matter to me. I think the University/State is pretty generous with time off, so whatever form it takes is fine.

And as far as the people "off for 6 months with pay" thing. I don't personally know anyone in that category. If there are people out there that are acting that way, like the above poster's roommate, then I would say there is an issue with their supervisor. I am still work from home and have been since March. Due to the nature of what I do though, my job hasn't changed and is actually harder to do from home at times, so there has been no change for me, just where I go to do it.
selk
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Didn't they get a 4 month summer
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