No way

Spring break is not necessary. It was only a week long this year anyway. Indeed, I propose its complete abolishment. Its reign of lazy in-between-ness should come to an end.

Now, you’re probably thinking that I’m a sadistic maniac. Truly, why would one wish to dissolve this sacred tradition? My dear colleague is probably expounding at length upon the virtues of a trip to Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon, in which betting and skipping rocks count as math and physics.

But that is folly. No, we’re better off going straight from winter to spring quarters. You probably feel like you just finished last quarter, and that school got here way too fast. Why not embrace this feeling of quasi-déjà vu?

In exchange, summer would arrive two weeks ahead of schedule. Think about it. We’re already absurdly spoiled as it is. Most adult-level occupations don’t involve three-month breaks in the middle of the year (with the exception of teaching, which is, in fact, a very real job). The majority of my peers and I work through at least most of the summer and therefore give the scholastic side of our minds a rest.

The benefits of five days off between winter and spring, in contrast, seem trivial. Seriously, what did you do that was so refreshing between the quarters? I say we should be plow straight on through.

Yes, it might seem a little wearying at first. But our gung-ho dedication to academics would pay off in the form of improved knowledge retention and productivity.

Like ultra-marathon runners, our brains would become fitter and leaner than ever. The “vapor memory” of finals week, so prone to instant evaporation, would be a thing of the past. No longer will the hard-won information disappear after that last exam.

Sure, we might collapse from mental exhaustion. But I would gladly risk my sense of life-balance for the sake of efficiency. Some of you might be thinking, “But what about balance?”

Balance is for the weak (or the wise, depending on your point of view). This is America, for goodness’ sake. We don’t take breaks. We went to the moon on a whim. We beat the Nazis and the Commies, in that order. Did we do these things by taking breaks? We most certainly did not.

So why should we, as UW students representing the proud Husky tradition of type A-personalities, succumb to the sissy spring break? I bet Chuck Norris and Batman don’t take spring breaks. If a slightly fictional character and a crime-fighting millionaire stop at nothing to resist the advance of evil, then I don’t see why we should.

Don’t listen to my comrade’s diatribe about the necessity of a week off. Join me, my strong fellow Americans, and keep working until you drop.

[Reach columnist Will Mari at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]

Heck yes

A lot of people, many of whom happen to be our parents, probably find spring break unnecessary and misleading. Here we are, on the cusp of entering the “real world,” and we’re allowed to take breaks every 10 weeks? To them this is blasphemy, as they have endured years of never having a vacation, or at least, a vacation that didn’t involve screaming kids and a migraine.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that most of our parents were a little hesitant when they heard about our spring break plans.

“You’re going somewhere nice and hot?”

“You’re going to be outside in the sun, doing absolutely nothing?”

“What does ‘blacking out’ mean?”

What parents don’t realize is that spring break is just an extension of our college education, but in more applicable and (coincidentally) more enjoyable settings. For instance, I spent my spring break in Las Vegas and got a better lesson in mathematics and basic arithmetic than any AP or college-level math class could ever teach me — because I had something at stake (my money). Suddenly, the total sum of 9 + 10 + 2 seemed vitally more important than the lectures in which I tried to stay awake over the past couple years.

Obviously not everyone had the opportunity to throw away their college funds on a couple games of blackjack, but other topics could be applied to any situation. When I was in the Grand Canyon, I was able to touch upon an array of subjects: the distance a nickel would travel if I threw it over the edge (physics); the amount of rocks you would hit if you fell over the edge (geology); and even trying to understand foreign tourists as they teach you how to use their cameras (romance languages).

No matter what you were doing, you probably learned something. That’s the beauty of any break. It’s not as though your mind literally shuts down for a week. I mean, you may forget the things you learned in class, but when has that information ever come in handy in our day-to-day lives? However, you can always rely on learning some real world information that will help you the next time you hit the bars or forget how to get back to a hotel in a city you’ve never been in before.

Because no matter what people tell you, it’s the things you learn outside college that will stay with you once you graduate. These little life lessons you go through in the middle of nowhere with a group of friends and no sense of direction will have more of an impact than your college courses — especially when such life lessons are the only reason you got back to college alive.

[Reach columnist Eric Uthus at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]