Imagine you have a goldfish. You keep this fish in a medium-sized glass tank, with smooth pebbles and a few pieces of seaweed. Every month, you give the tank a thorough cleaning. You scrub the algae off the walls and clean up any food that has gotten caught in the pebbles. You make sure the water has the right pH for the fish, and you check the fish carefully for any signs of sickness. You perform this ritual year after year while your goldfish grow bigger and healthier.
After three years of your cleaning routine, you decide that your fish really doesn’t require that much cleaning. When cleaning, you only scrub half of the tank, and you rarely touch the pebbles on the bottom. You figure that your fish is healthy enough for whatever infections it faces, so you don’t look after it’s health. As a result, the tank grows green with algae, and the fish is less lively than it used to be. The circles it swims become smaller and smaller. With every month its fins droop lower and it loses its golden shine.
Throughout elementary school, Seattle students are given an entire week for Thanksgiving break. During those long years, they become accustomed to this time off, and they use it to spend time with their friends and family. Then, in eighth grade, this break is cruelly slashed to a meager four days. The middle and high school students are forced to either skip school to make time for family or just reduce the amount of time they spend with their loved ones. It makes no sense that high school students don’t get the break when they need it most.
There are two purposes to a break from school: to make time for family, to recharge health. Thanksgiving break (I hesitate to call it a break, it’s more of an extended weekend) at its current length accomplishes neither of those. A meager two days is allocated for one of the most important holidays of the year. Students aren’t allowed adequate time to rest or recharge, and just four days isn’t enough time to see family, especially when the relatives of most people live across the country. The result is a halfway break, where students get class time off, but don’t get significant benefit from it. Just like cleaning half of a fish tank, it accomplishes nothing.
The most common argument against an extended break is that it would impair student learning by reducing time in class. However, many people already miss those days by leaving early for vacation. Making Thanksgiving break one week long would cut out the confusion caused by those students missing class, and the additional three days of break wouldn’t substantially impact class time.
In order for Thanksgiving break to truly accomplish its purpose of connecting with family and recharging health, it must be extended to a full week. This would strengthen student health and dedication during school time and help Roosevelt to keep its golden shine.
