Many students at Michigan Tech have eagerly awaited the arrival of October Recess for quite some time now. It is understandable why October Recess brings such anticipation, as it is the only break between the K-Day Recess and Thanksgiving Break. That said, this event is not as helpful as many students believe.
For starters, students pay money to attend MTU, and October Recess does not contain a holiday. This means that, traditionally, students should not have these days off. Since students are paying for full semesters, the existence of this break, which doesn’t contain a holiday, means less instruction time and less time in class, which students pay for. In addition to less time in the semester, teachers are forced to plan around a two-day break alongside the more substantial holiday break of Thanksgiving.
These are not the only problems with the October Recess. Thanksgiving Break is generally only two or three days at other universities, with Michigan State University and the University of Michigan as notable examples. Michigan Tech, on the other hand, has a full week off. This is because two or three days is simply not enough time for most who do not live in the UP to travel downstate or out of state and enjoy their breaks with their families.
Because MTU students have a full week off for Thanksgiving, there was no October Recess prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic. With an annual October Recess, students now enjoy more vacation days than similar colleges and, thus, have less instruction time, especially since most of these colleges also start Fall classes a week earlier. Additionally, with the short break, students who travel back home have a higher rate of absences on Monday when school resumes.
While it is true that October Recess gives students time to relax after a long period of classes and assignments, the break creates more problems than it solves. Less class time means that students will be expected to cover more content on their own, cover content faster, or, even worse, not cover content that is covered in similar institutions. These outcomes will mean more stress on the student, meaning the break is not getting rid of the stress students face but simply moving it to a different time. As a result, October Recess is ultimately unhelpful and only serves as an impediment to student learning.
