Cornell To Consider Banning Homework Over Breaks

Cornell students may soon have a very large reason to rejoice -- and relax.

The Ivy League university, notorious for its intense culture, may put a ban on "surprise" homework assignments over school breaks.

According to the Cornell Daily Sun, the proposed ban would only apply to "last-minute" assignments, say, something assigned the Thursday or Friday before a recess and due shortly after.

Cornell's faculty senate is expected to vote on the matter this month, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

Faculty have been largely supportive of the issue. Faculty Senate education-policies committee chair and theater professor Bruce A. Levitt said it was time to send the "message that breaks are meant to be used as breaks," according to the Chronicle.

Physics professor Carl Franck put it more bluntly. "We should not be assigning work over breaks," he said, the Sun reports.

The proposal was tabled last month in order for its language to be clarified -- some professors wanted the wording of the measure to be rewritten to exclude long-term assignments.

According to the Sun, the proposal emerged from a need for an "academic environment that encourages mental health."

What do you think? Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Or totally ineffective? Weigh in below.

Comments

[Balzy26]

02:28 AM on 03/07/2011

Google "asians sleeping in the library" to see what real commitment looks like. Assigning homework over breaks just means that the prof hates their lives, has some unresolved issues with their opposite sex parent, and derives their only academic pleasure out of riducling and torturing those they view beneath their intellectual capacity. Funny thing is, their students are the ones who actually go on to produce and create in this country and not just wax poetic about forgotten yarns of some contemporary of Shakespeare

[olddognewtrick]

10:46 PM on 03/06/2011

Oh my! Bet they have the rubber padding around the jungle gym too...

[kevinaom]

02:15 PM on 03/05/2011

I graduated from Cornell University and yes, it was a grind and yes, we did have homework over breaks and that really sucked. However, don't you think by the time you get to college you should be getting ready for the "real world"? Obviously, college is about learning but it is also about getting ready to go off into the world and work. At work, you will get assignments over vacations and you will have to learn to deal with it. Time for the "kids" to grow up.

[Balzy26]

02:33 AM on 03/07/2011

Relax Andy Bernard

[bessielil]

01:01 PM on 03/04/2011

I have a 15% of the grade assignment due our last class before break, as listed on the syllabus. However, I did say that if students wanted to hand it in the day we return from break, there will be no penalty for lateness.

What do you think will happen?

[Leviathan21]

12:47 PM on 03/04/2011

What a spoiled bunch of ninnies. At Oxford and Cambridge, the workload is so intense that it is expected that one will have to do work over the holidays. Even if there is no assigned homework, people inevitably end up doing work because it's the only way to cope with the sheer amount of work. Nobody complains because if you had a real-full-time job, would you really expect to be given entire months off just so you can "de-stress"?

[dingas]

12:59 AM on 03/05/2011

I don't think that you understand... some professors assign work the day before break that is due the day you return. THAT should not be allowable. There is no way to plan for that sort of thing. Standard reading or writing assignments which are listed in the syllabus at the beginning of the term are fair game though. You KNOW those are due and can plan accordingly.

[kevinaom]

02:16 PM on 03/05/2011

That is what will happen in the work world.. get used to it...

[espressobeans]

08:58 AM on 03/04/2011

Sounds like a very unprofessional practice to me out the gate that shouldn't exist to require a ban. My college courses involved a syllabus with the terms assignments laid out so you planned accordingly.

[Brian Krause]

11:27 PM on 03/03/2011

Dear god, I think all schools should do this. My past few Thanksgiving breaks have been so fll of homework that they were not enjoyable in the slightest.

[Steve Cornman]

09:16 PM on 03/03/2011

Makes me proud to be a Cornell alum... and for ol' Flimflam up there, I'm proud to be from the enlightened, beautiful city of Ithaca too.

[Demarcus Jackson]

08:43 PM on 03/03/2011

Also, I need the break too.

[Demarcus Jackson]

08:42 PM on 03/03/2011

I never assign work over Spring Break. I think it just too cruel :-) Besides, my course is hard enough as it is!

[OB-GYN]

08:35 PM on 03/03/2011

Let's not forget the information explosion which has occurred over the last two decades: a superlative paper now is far different from that thirty and above years ago. The reading preparation alone, prior to the synthesis in writing is substantial. And woe be to you if you mess up on a single italic citation or reference: your entire college career might go down the drain.

Breaks are for de-stressing, including the simple act of sleep, which allows a plethora of molecular health restoration events to occur.

[Mike-South Carolina]

11:24 PM on 03/03/2011

Unfortunately, there's no way to keep students from managing their time by working on papers over break, but I agree with your larger point that the info revolution has changed the standard for work and made assignments more demanding.

[laterthanyouthink]

06:11 AM on 03/04/2011

"molecular health restoratio­n events"

I know what that meant in my day.

What are you saying here ...

[OB-GYN]

08:18 AM on 03/04/2011

Just taking our body down to the current knowledge lowest or deepest level. Use to be "at the cellular level," now increasingly cell paths are explained at the molecular level.

However, I always mention the value of uninterrupted sleep specifically in the aiding of natural pineal gland melatonin production, and decrease in adrenal cortisol: both of these are necessary in full immune function. For example, natural killer cells to do their immunologic boosting and anti-cancer work. This has been known for decades now:

Natural Killer Cells Need A Good Night's Sleep

"Analysis of their blood samples showed that those whose sleep had been disrupted had decreased levels of natural killer cells (NKCs), which take their name from the way they help destroy illness-causing cells. A decreased NKC count indicates a weakened immune system and a body more vulnerable to illness."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/01/980126060431.htm

As I said, the exponential explosion in science over the last decades now moves us increasingly to the molecular level. Let's hope America and other countries continue this beneficial progress.

[flamflurm]

07:15 PM on 03/03/2011

Ithaca cannot provide an academic environment that encourages mental health.

[Clara Eisinger]

06:30 PM on 03/03/2011

Great idea! Even I could tell that Cornell was too crazy intense, and I didn't go there--I went to Ithaca College. Ithaca had a more supportive atmosphere and even looked less gloomy (Cornell has some beautiful buildings, but also a lot of drab red brick structures and some miserably dull-looking student housing). OK, so I know that appearances aren't everything, but they can matter a lot in the middle of an Ithaca winter.
Awesome decision, Cornell! You're a good school, and this will help make you even better.

[fem56]

05:58 PM on 03/03/2011

Great idea! This kids work incredibly hard and are under more pressure than most people can relate too. A mental health break is really important.

[retired-engineer]

08:23 PM on 03/03/2011

The purpose of a break is to give one a rest - thus to renew one's body and mind. A brief break from studies will, in my opinion, improve a student's mental health. About one-fifth of all college students experience mild to severe mental disturbances as is true for the rest of the Nation's adult population. While homework and projects are important in the learning process, too much stress leads to "burn-out" and often distaste for a subject. Some cannot wait to graduate - some are looking for ways to alleviate their stress. Many have such a distaste for a particular subject that they do not want to continue their education in that subject area. As an undergraduate student in chemical engineering I was under considerable stress - many homework sets had to be turned in. There was little time to relax except on Saturdays. The credit load was too high - so one just struggled to do the minimal reading in a subject. However, as a graduate student first in mathematics at Penn State and then in applied physics at Cornell, I had the opportunity to read more intensively in the subject areas. I enjoyed graduate school much more than undergraduate school. After graduation from Cornell I took an interest in continuing to read in mathematics, chemistry, and physics while working full-time in engineering research. "True" breaks are important for promoting good mental health.

[Rachel Ann Kelson]

04:08 PM on 03/03/2011

I think this is a fantastic idea. As a student (and no, not at an Ivy League school) I'm using my Spring Break (next week) to work ahead. It should be the choice of the student to do school work during a school break.

To me, working ahead during that week gives me peace of mind that if I am somehow incapacitated for a week or two I won't actually be behind in my classes. Students should be able to do whatever gives them that peace of mind during a break, rather than slaving away on last minute assignments.