Tradition has gotta go

Tradition is a part of the package deal of attending Princeton. It has seeped into the very essence of the University and is as real of a presence as the strands of ivy adorning Nassau Hall. The names of famous alumni and outstanding classes on plaques and sides of buildings attest to a long-standing tradition of academic excellence and then, later in life, financial success. Clubs and other organizations proudly boast of a long legacy, declaring the notable number of years they have been in existence. Tradition is an essential part of what Princeton is; I have no qualms with that. No, what I’m arguing against is how tradition is being used as an excuse to prevent positive changes to the school calendar.

Princeton is one of the few schools left that to have such a bizarre and antiquated school calendar. Since Harvard changed its calendar earlier this academic year, Princeton is now the only Ivy or major institution in the country to have fall semester exams after winter break. An editorial on Nov. 25 also addressed the strange practice of having classes meet the day before Thanksgiving, basically advocating absenteeism as well as forcing those dedicated enough to attend classes to travel on one of the busiest days of the year. Even though I’m only a freshman and have yet to experience a Princeton winter break, I have heard numerous horror stories involving catching up on work avoided all semester and frantically writing papers for Dean’s Date.

In the four months I’ve been here, I’ve already had had negative experiences with the calendar. Fall Break, though a welcome relief after a long stretch of nonstop classes, didn’t feel like a break at all with the two papers I had due the first Tuesday after we returned. So instead of relaxing and watching the Food Network all day, I holed up at the library from sunrise to sunset, cursing the inadequate research resources of the place and enviously watching the local high school students cheerfully complete their easy, no-brainpower-required busywork.

Thanksgiving break didn’t turn out to be as picturesque as I had planned, either. I grossly miscalculated the amount of time I would have to do schoolwork in between travel and obligatory time with friends and family, naively thinking the three days I had at home would be plenty of time to finish two papers and catch up on a weeks’ worth of readings and Spanish grammar exercises. I see now that my plan was a product of freshman idealism; I got very little actual work done and ended up having to pull several all-nighters when I returned to campus.

I get the feeling that most students are resigned to the fact that the breaks we receive are only that in name. After being at the University a while, I suppose it becomes strangely normal to have these “working” breaks. As a freshman, however, I find the whole concept incredibly odd. I am in no way used to having a double workload during the weeks that are purported to be my “time off.” As we approach the holiday season, I find myself reminiscing about the cozy simplicity of the breaks I used to have. I long to return to that time when I didn’t have a paper or three over to do and I felt no guilt for playing Mario Kart Racing with my siblings, making homemade pumpkin bread with my mom or even just curling up in front of the fireplace with a good book instead of homework.

This is not a new complaint. Ask Princeton alumni, and their eyes light up in recognition; they were proposing the very same changes while they were undergraduates. I recently had a chat with a graduate from the early ’90s who commented on the having-classes-until-the-day-before-Thanksgiving issue. She remembers the student government of her time trying to amend the calendar all four of her years at Princeton. Incredibly, almost 20 years later in Starbucks on a chilly fall afternoon, we were discussing proposals to make the exact same changes.

University administrators constantly tell us that they are always acting with our best interests in mind. At this point, though, I’m not sure whether they are on this particular issue. The current academic calendar seems to only facilitate stress and anxiety among students. I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask for breaks that are more than just time away from school. Princeton is one of the last schools that hasn’t changed its archaic school calendar. For a university that regards itself as progressive and innovative in every way, that’s a big disappointment.

Kelsey Zimmerman is a freshman from Glen Allen, Va. She can be reached at kzimmerm@princeton.edu.