Schools across the state have slowly started to conform to the idea of having a week off of school during the week of Thanksgiving, and I believe we at Long Beach City College should do the same.
With more High Schools and Junior Highs participating in the break, some of California State colleges are adopting the week off of school with colleges such as Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, and California State University Los Angeles.
Our school has the highest transfer rate going into Cal State Long Beach, considering that, I believe we should also adopt the same scheduling of thanksgiving break as the school we are encouraged to transfer to.
Most parents don’t have the entire week off of work to watch over their kids that may be in Jr. high and high school, which leads them to rely on older siblings to look after them.
A break during the same time gives the students the opportunity to help watch their siblings instead having to skip class regardless to go watch them.
Around the same time is when families come together to visit and whether the student is traveling to a relatives house or a relative comes to them, it adds more stress to the already busy week.
A week break in the middle of the semester would also be beneficial for students that may have fallen behind with their school work, and a week is what they need to get back on track.
The spring semester already offers a week off of class and it’s not centered around a holiday, let alone, a holiday known for putting family first.
With community college being a place welcoming of others moving around and attending the school, the school should also recognize that students need time to go back home And with less than a week off, it puts students in a tough position.
With us losing three days of learning we would normally have, we could put those days at the beginning of the year, that way we could start around the same time as other community colleges in our area.
An alternative idea would be to add minutes to each class so that we get the time that we need during the semester just distributed in a different way.
This would also allow professors to catch up on grading and lesson planning for the last leg of the semester.
Asking around several staff members were unsure why we don’t have the entire week off, most just speculate that since it’s always been just Thursday and Friday it’s just stayed the same.
Although we didn’t receive a week break this year on Thanksgiving, hopefully LBCC will consider changing their ways for the future.