Snow days: help or hindrance for students?

Courtesy of this year’s first snow day, I thought I would explore the nature of snow days for students and whether they are actually detrimental to education, or help it.

To be completely honest, I have begged for snow days in past years so I could take a break and chill out. Most students I talked to in freshman and sophomore year used their days off to have fun and enjoy the winter weather. This year, the sentiment has certainly changed.

I’ve heard students in the past months, especially juniors and seniors, wishing for snow days to do homework. I know I personally have wanted a snow day, not to relax and get behind in school, but because not having school to waste my time would actually help me catch up.

And snow days the week before finals? Well if you’re like me, this is great for grades. More time away from the distractions and busy work of school means more time to study the things that actually matter for midterms. And according to my friend group, they feel the same.

So if snow days are actually helping student catch up on their work and study, that brings up a new point. Why are we wasting so much time in school?

To an extent, there is a social aspect of school that draws students in and distracts them from doing work, but that’s not the only time waster. More often than not, the things done by teachers in class are just busy work; there are so many unnecessary “review” packets and class assignments that aren’t actually for grades, nor do they teach anything, that it takes away from the major assignments or ideas of the class that are important later on. When students want snow days to do work they cannot finish because of school, there is a problem in how much work is being piled on their shoulders.

Regardless, hopefully everyone enjoyed their snow day and are now all caught up on homework, and sleep.