Kevin Flake, a junior Humanities major, poses for an art illustration. Flake, who has a 7:30 a.m. Biology exam this Saturday, has "mixed emotions" about Saturday finals, but says "then again, they're done that much sooner." (CU Independent/Adam Milner)
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Hey there, hardworking college student! You made it through the semester, congratulations!
There were those of you who thought you’d never survive it, those teachers who tried their very hardest to sneak that extra test in at the last minute and foil that A- you sacrificed so many wild beer pong tournaments for throughout the semester.
It’s time to kick back, de-stress a bit and begin your painstakingly planned study schedule at those carefully chosen coffee houses around Boulder.
Or not.
Instead of studying, guess what you get to do bright and early Saturday morning?
You guessed it – it’s finals time, baby.
If you’re lucky, your first final won’t be until Saturday afternoon. Not so lucky, and you’ve got the dreaded 7:30 a.m. Saturday final the day after classes come to a painful conclusion.
The professors have it right when they caution against cramming for a test the night before. But when you’ve got a final paper to hammer out, group members to track down and a presentation to wrestle with the last week of classes, finding time to study for that Saturday final can be a bit tricky, if not impossible.
Most of us find ourselves stuffing random facts into our brains during the middle of the night on Friday in hopes that we’ll remember one last fact about anthropoid primates that will propel us from a B- to a B during Saturday’s exam.
A pair of reading days the weekend after classes ended was eliminated in 2000 in order to make room for an October fall break (which later became a week off in November for Thanksgiving instead), and student leaders have been working since then to get them back.
Last December, student leaders in UCSU unsuccessfully lobbied regents for students to have the full weekend off after classes before starting finals on Monday.
Sounds simple, but as always, there are complications. Starting finals on Monday would push graduation back from Friday to Saturday.
The problem, as it always is, is money. In the past, university leaders took issue with moving graduation to a Saturday due to the extra costs associated with bringing people in to staff a weekend event. While these costs are no doubt an important consideration, especially given the current economic state of the university, moving graduation to squeeze in some desperately needed study time would be worth it.
There’d even be another upswing: More families and friends would be able to attend a weekend graduation without having to worry about missing work to see a daughter or son graduate.
Universities like Harvard recognize the value of reading days. For this year’s fall term, classes for students ended Thursday, Dec. 3, while exams won’t begin until Saturday, Dec. 12. Their students are given over a week to catch up on the semester’s readings and study up for that final test of academic prowess. Granted, students at Harvard aren’t given a full week off at Thanksgiving, but they start the fall semester a week later than CU in the first place.
At Columbia University in New York, classes don’t end for students until Monday, Dec. 14. Finals, however, don’t begin until the following Thursday, affording students a solid two days of preparation time.
It becomes evident that our regents and leaders place more value on the university’s coffers rather than on the education of their students. If the university’s funds exist to serve the students and help them achieve the best education possible, then shouldn’t those funds go toward helping students learn better by giving them more time to study and do well on finals?
The sole purpose of a university is to serve its customers, the students, in the best way possible. If it costs a few extra dollars to do this, so be it. A semester’s worth of learning shouldn’t be summed up in a test that is the result of frantic studying. Give us time to breathe, and most of us will show you that we’ve got what it takes to succeed.
Here’s a holiday wish list idea for you, dear regents and student leaders: Give us back our readings days. We don’t even need fancy wrapping.
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Kate Spencer at Katherine.a.spencer@colorado.edu.
While reading days would be great, let’s not forget that we do get an entire week off for Thanksgiving break. This is extremely important for out of state students who need time to fly home and back. Reading days or none, let’s keep the week long fall break!
Well said! It makes it difficult to prepare for finals when the registrar makes it PERFECTLY clear that the final week of class should contain new material.