The Paper Trail

USC Classes Before Holiday Upset Students

November 25, 2009 RSS Feed Print

The holidays are always a sticky issue with any college kid. When should breaks begin? How much time should they get off from school?

Well, at the University of Southern California, students are questioning the necessity of having class on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the Daily Trojan reports. The biggest quandary facing students and professors who have class on Wednesday is traveling on Thanksgiving eve. And while many professors simply cancel classes before the holiday, the university hasn't changed its policy on Wednesday classes.

"The question has certainly been raised," Gene Bickers, vice provost for undergraduate programs, tells the Daily Trojan. "But we're still trying to figure out if it is to the university's advantage if we have a short week before Thanksgiving."

One student says he had to take a Spanish quiz today, preventing him from leaving for home. The professor told students that there would not be a makeup.

"For people that need to travel and book airplanes, it's kind of a pain," the student says. "I think the university is absolutely ignoring the fact that people need to travel. One day is not enough time." 

Tags:
USC,
holidays,
colleges

Reader Comments Read all comments (5)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

All I can say is, welcome to the real world kids

Jayd of WV 4:07PM December 01, 2009

I agree & am lodging protests at my youngest child's university, which scheduled classes on that day - but worse, on the FIRST day of the semester, students were told to "not plan on going home for Thanksgiving cuz they are already BEHIND & that their midterm projects would be due that Monday". Also told "the 2 Jewish holidays puts us further back". This, on Day 1 of the term! This university is in NY.

As to USC, my eldest child had this problem every year. It is ridiculous. Not every child attends IN-State. Airfare, train travel needs to be booked, preferably early. The more flexibility, the lesser the fare. In our case, entire days were spent in the travel process, so your 4- day vacation is really 2.

The profs are home enjoying their feasts on Thanksgiving. My youngest got a last-minute invite to a friend's house. Otherwise, it would have been boxfood & probably chicken. The holiday shopping season is on, this year starting on Thanksgiving, but kids like mine cannot participate cuz they are bogged down with projects, studying. Also, they schedule them to come home 2 EVENINGS before X-mas. And they are supposed to shop -- when????

The crux of the matter is this: collegiates deserve a proper "break". What part of "break" or "holiday" or "vacation" doesn't faculty understand???? They have no problem scheduling them for themselves....

kathy of IL 4:35PM November 30, 2009

Although I don't sympathize, as for Mark's comment, I think when he said one day is not enough time, he was talking about making it back home for Thanksgiving because usually people celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving on the actual day. That day happens to be ONE DAY away from Wednesday.

Amol of NJ 4:59AM November 26, 2009

The Paper Trail

Nobody knows a college better than its student newspaper. And nobody knows campus newspapers better than this blog. We sift through thousands of student newspaper headlines every day to bring you the latest, most important, or just plain weirdest news from campuses across the country. Heard bigger news or a crazier story? Send tips to papertrail@usnews.com.

AMERICA'S BEST COLLEGES

Editor's Picks

Colleges »
10 Priciest Public Schools for Nonresidents
Grad Schools »
Beat 2 Law School Wait List Myths
Education »
About the Rankings Methodologies
MBA Admissions »
Business Schools Send Students Out of Classrooms
High Schools »
Tips for Parents to Help Bullied Kids