There is a week after the Christmas holiday when most students have off school. In case you were wondering, it is called winter break. The word “break,” is incorporated for a very clear reason; students are supposed to have a break from school and the workload that comes with it.

The amount of homework given out to students Monday through Friday during the school year is already excessive. Students consistently are found walking into their classes like zombies in the first couple of periods throughout the day because many have been up all night doing homework. Homework, with few exceptions, is simply unnecessary; we certainly don’t need anymore of it.

What is even more unnecessary than homework during the week is homework on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday are two days of the week that are for relaxing and resting. You should feel little to no stress over the weekend, and this applies to the maximum during winter break.

The time during this break week is supposed to be spent with relatives, opening gifts, and enjoying yourself. Instead, it is often spent working on projects, cramming for tests, writing essays, etc. Students across the country are given winter break so they don’t have to worry about school. Students are supposed to be “off”, but this is often not the case.

Year after year it seems that students are always given at least one major assignment to complete over winter break. Whether this is from math, history, English, science or others, the work is never done! This is not solely in high school either. This epidemic goes back to middle and even elementary school in some instances.

Some years are better than others and fortunate students may get lucky and not receive any work for break. Other unfortunate student souls will be spending this upcoming week off reading “Hamlet” or writing that DBQ essay for World History.

The holiday season is the season of giving and joy, not homework and stress, so teachers should “give” homework a rest and not assign anything for those days off. It would be better for teachers anyway, because then there would be nothing to grade!
Don’t take the “break” out of Christmas break!