Rethinking the calendar at Princeton

As the goals of an educational system change it becomes crucial to integrate them into a consistent whole. Solving for this new equation may be largely an unnoticed matter of time.

Princeton would like all students to have some outside learning experience — whether in another country, a different laboratory or on an appropriate field trip. We would also welcome an opportunity for students to involve themselves in a collective learning experience, since so much of one's work life is spent not in individual enterprise but in developing projects with others. And we would like students to have the advantage of brief extracurricular engagements that stretch their interests.

However, at Princeton it is not easy to find a good time for these activities. Junior year is clearly the ideal for study away from campus, but too many other things happen at that moment: moving out of the college system, involvement in clubs and other organizations, and getting into one's major. Some students take one semester off; many others feel they cannot afford even that much disruption in their new social and academic lives.

Similarly, there is limited opportunity to do sustained community work. And when every moment of the day — from a frenzied "lunch hour" to classes that all seem to meet at the same time — is already spoken for, there is little opening for trying lectures or gatherings that might just capture one's lasting, even life-changing, attachment.

But what if we rethought the academic calendar and weekly schedule in the light of these changing goals?

First, we could open up a university research period between the two semesters by starting soon after Labor Day, replacing the mid-semester fall break with a week-long break at Thanksgiving and completing all exams by Christmas. The fall break was instituted as a way of allowing students to work for the political candidates of their choice at a time, in the late 1960s, when many campuses were in turmoil. But the political purpose has long since passed — students who are truly devoted to a given campaign will still be able to volunteer for it, and the whole thing has simply become a welcome break.

Similarly, during Thanksgiving week students often go missing. My own informal survey shows absenteeism of two-thirds by Wednesday classes and over half by Tuesday of that week. If we eliminate the break week, realistically turn Thanksgiving into the break period and get back to campus for exams and papers, we can be done with the semester by Christmas.

This would open up a period of five weeks for research. Study abroad would be practicable, especially for faculty-led groups: In five weeks students could learn an enormous amount, say, by traveling to a rain forest research station, practicing language skills in a country in Asia or Africa, or visiting museums located far from campus. Other students may choose to use this period for a collective project, community involvement or working with an athletic team in another country. Faculty would have a consolidated research period and might be less prone to be away from campus when they are presently expected to be around. Classes would then reconvene in February and the present spring schedule could continue to be employed.

On a daily basis, we could also open time up for a variety of nonacademic activities. We could have a University-wide lunch hour — a period at midday when no classes of any sort take place, and when departments, programs and others could have lectures, performances or gatherings that offer students alternative forms of learning. By employing the basic kindergarten rule of taking turns, a few more classes can be rotated into the early morning slot, Friday can be made a real day of activity and specially developed programs can occur without constant conflict.

We are, in short, bursting at the seams of time with our current — and much to be lauded — desires. We are also terribly overscheduled — in our lives and in our modes of education. We can make time for it all, however, and time may just be the collective solution to these interrelated needs. Over the years the university has given thoughtful attention to our schedule: We need to renew that conversation. Lawrence Rosen is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology and a member of the CPUC. He writes on his own behalf. You can reach him at lrosen@princeton.edu.