Here we go again. Just another ill-prepared student here to groan about the exams. Before you judge though, please answer me this:
Do you appreciate overenthusiastic greetings early in the morning (say 9-ish), pre-caffeine, from that one eternally cheery housemate of yours? How about on a groggy Monday?
Are you able to savour the gezelligheid of a night out with a mandatory 9 a.m. class the next day? Or better yet, if you’re with that moody friend of yours that gets a bit too sentimental after he’s had a few?
Was Damocles all smiles with the king’s sword hanging overhead? Do you reckon he got a good night’s rest?
Seeing as we’re all part of this here ‘terp’ of sophistication that is the UG, I’m pretty sure the answer is obvious – especially as the offending party in the first two cases. Why then, in TikTok Tammo’s sugar-beety name, are the exams slotted for right after Christmas break? Whatever happened to stuffing your face with oliebollen in peace?
Why, in TikTok Tammo’s sugar-beety name, are the exams slotted for right after Christmas break?
Why, that’s the way of the world, surely? Life doesn’t cater to us after all. Yet, last I checked, university schedules are drawn up on computers, not stone tablets, and the only catering is the junk food needed for all the stress-eating.
With all the talk about lowering work pressure, trimming down the academic year to match international norms, and addressing student struggles, it’s probably worthwhile to look into the quality of days off as well as quantity. It’s only logical. To misquote a wise acquaintance for a handy analogy: sleep harder, not just longer.
There are skeptics, unfortunately. A friend mentioned to me that there was allegedly a multitude of students, to which she supposedly belonged, who can’t focus with the holidays approaching, and are glad of the extra study time before exams. I can assure you, however, as a recent convert from that faith to this present one, that the charge is a baseless conspiracy, and temporary at best.
If the pandemic’s forced us to ‘re-imagine’ education, as some people put it, we might as well go the full nine yards. We’re only a mouse-click and a toga-swish away from even happier holidays.
HRYDAI SAMPALLY