This year, the Duneland School District has Fall Break from Friday, October 22 to Sunday, October 24. This gives students and staff one day off from their regular schedule; however, a lot of students complain that one day off is far too short. After fall break, students want to come back feeling refreshed and ready to jump back into learning. The purpose of fall break is to take time away from school to reduce burnout and exhaustion, but is one extra day enough to reach this goal?  

A day off is great, but when students are only given time off once every few weeks, they can become irritable and anxious. Coming from personal experience, not getting enough time to focus on my mental health makes me overwhelmed. Mentally, when a student is not given these longer breaks to focus on themselves, they can also feel overwhelmed and have a surge of anxiety.  Constant work without a break causes exhaustion that affects a student’s performance and overall well-being.  

To add, physical health is vital, too. When not given proper breaks, students can become drowsy, their body processes slow down, and they have trouble focusing. These physical symptoms cause students’ performance in school to deteriorate quickly. Most students do not have a solid sleep schedule, and by adding on sports, extracurricular activities, chores, and other responsibilities, it’s hard to believe that students have any time for rest.  

Weekends are given off to students so that they can have a break after five days of constant work. However, most students are unable to utilize this regular time off due to other factors such as sports, extracurricular activities, family, and work. Some students have so much to do on the weekends that there is no time for a break at all, forcing them to work at full capacity for seven days straight, which ultimately defeats the purpose. Extending fall break and giving students additional days off will benefit mental health, performance in school, and increase the want to learn.  

Instead of having only one day of Fall Break, we can make the break longer by taking away one of the days that are given off during Thanksgiving Break and adding it to Fall Break.  This would allow students to have more time to unwind and catch up on work.