Fall Reading Week?

A faculty member wrote to me this week to express his concern about the mental health of his students.  His note was prompted by a specific incident, but he went on to observe that many seemed to be experiencing a high level of stress, and that this was having a negative effect on their ability to cope with the daily exigencies of life.  I don’t think he is alone in this observation.  The last few weeks of term are difficult, both for students and faculty, as deadlines occur with increasing frequency, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be done.  The pressure builds and builds … and for some it becomes too much to bear.  And there is also an impact on the support staff, who often find themselves on the front lines, bearing the brunt of any fall-out from a failure to keep all the proverbial balls in the air.  It is not an easy time.

When I was an undergraduate, the fall term was slightly easier to manage than the winter term, in part because most courses were full courses, not half courses, and thus the deadlines for major projects were in mostly in March, and not also in November.  This was recognized formally by having a Reading Week in the middle of the second term, a brief but welcome respite before the final onslaught.  And it didn’t matter that many of us referred to it as “Ski Week”.  What was important was the break.  It was a chance to “de-stress”, to refresh the batteries, to experience some release from the pressures of our academic responsibilities.  And it was always very welcome.  It may even have saved lives.

There has been a lot of discussion on our campus this term about the possibility of adding a fall term “Reading Week”, as the University of Ottawa has recently done, and a CUSA survey of Carleton students suggests that support is running something like 2:1 in favour.  To be sure, this would require some adjustments to our normal practices, including a shorter period between the end of classes and the start of exams, and probably the necessity of scheduling exams seven days a week instead of the current six.  But other universities have already gone down this road, and their worlds have not ended.  And given the growing integration of our programs with those of the University of Ottawa, it doesn’t make much sense to be operating on different schedules.  In my view the “plusses” of such a change would far outweigh the “minuses”.

There was a time long ago when I taught a large undergraduate class at the University of Victoria – roughly 125-130 students and no TA, and to complicate matters I was still sufficiently starry-eyed about having an academic position to insist on assigning research papers, all of which I graded myself.  I think that many faculty members would agree that “marking” is probably their least favourite activity, and I soon discovered that this was true for me.  I could usually get through the first 70-80 with sanity still intact, but the last 50 or so were painful.  I remember frequently having to play silly games with myself: just three more papers, and then you can stop for a coffee and a “treat”.  Promises of food were usually quite effective … and in other contexts indeed still are!  Towards the end of this process, the pace of progress fell off considerably, with my motivation picking up again only when light began to appear at the end of the tunnel.  But there were moments when I simply could not face grading another paper.  It was truly a struggle, and one which seemed to grow worse each year.  Without breaks, I don’t think I would have made it.

I understand that the possibility of instituting a fall term Reading Week is being discussed by various campus committees, and may eventually come to the University Senate for approval.  If so, I shall certainly be voting in favour.