Reporter: Richard East
Reading week. Typically when people think of this, the first thing that comes to mind is a week off to study and catch up on homework, if only because of its name. Students are often relaxing and not doing work or they are stuck studying frantically to keep up with the workload. Durham College and UOIT students vary in these two extremes. Twenty students responded to a straw poll about reading week (12 from DC, 8 from UOIT). Seven out of 10 said they had done no studying or homework at all during their time off.
“It’s been pretty stressful after midterms. It’s nice to catch up on life stuff,” said Caleb Jones from Durham’s music business management program.
Half of the students interviewed said they would like a reading week each semester, as other schools like Trent University have.
“It’s really important to get a head start on assignments. An extra week would be nice to relax instead of working,” said Sharifa Dejonge, a first-year student in DC’s early childhood education program. Dejonge spent half of her week at placement and the other half finishing assignments for school. Some students were under the impression that DC and UOIT did have more than one reading week like some other schools.
Other students were divided on the idea of even having a reading week. They felt that it was useless having a second reading week when they didn’t spend this past one on homework anyway. Two students went as far to say that they shouldn’t have a reading week at all.
“It’s not important (reading week). We just got back from Christmas break and have barely gotten into the habit of second semester yet,” said Jake Tones, a second-year student in the fitness and health promotion program. Having no reading week and an extra week added to summer was also suggested.
