After coming back from Fall Break, I asked many of my peers about how they spent their time off. I found that a popular response among the upperclassmen was working on assignments. This made me wonder, should our school assign homework over breaks?

When I asked my classmates, a common answer was “No!” Senior Ella Bowles said having homework over breaks “causes them to not get the proper rest [and they] stress over the work all break.” Another student who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “If we get assigned homework, it should at least be graded, so I get awarded for my work.” Next, I got the teachers’ perspective.

History teacher Mr. Farmer shared, “I don’t typically assign homework over breaks… I really try to limit what I assign to my AP class, and usually, I will give a month ahead of time notice so students can get the work done and not have to get the work done over the break.”

Similarly, when I interviewed our AP Language and Composition teacher, Mrs. Towery, she explained, “In AP Lang I would say pretty consistently I am assigning reading or long-term writing over breaks. I definitely don’t create assignments for breaks.”

She adds, “If you don’t want to do it over the break, you have two to three days during the school week after you return that you could do it.”

When I informed Mrs. Towery that many of our students felt overwhelmed by the amount of work over Fall Break, she said, “Students should feel empowered to have respectful conversations with their teachers about the workload.”

After these interviews, I concluded that perhaps our teachers love to keep their students’ brains working, or perhaps some of the students might be procrastinating. Regardless, communication is key. After all, Athens Academy is a community, and more importantly, a family.