Oooh yes! A ripe topical topic for #AcademicTwitter.
Is having classes on the Monday, Tuesday before Thanksgiving break just stupid or extremely stupid?
It's been my standard procedure for a decade to announce on day 1 of fall semester that there will be no class that week.
Is having classes on the Monday, Tuesday before Thanksgiving break just stupid or extremely stupid?
It's been my standard procedure for a decade to announce on day 1 of fall semester that there will be no class that week.
https://twitter.com/maaynaque/status/1461042591374446601
It took me just two years of teaching in the US to realize the utter futility and even low key cruelty of scheduling classes on those two days. So many students are so far from home and so strapped for cash. Even the "best" students will often take those days off.
All universities in the US should give the entire Thanksgiving week off and eliminate the entirely pointless two days of classes, which neither the average professor nor the average student is very keen on. And see THE lowest attendance of the year. With good reason.
I've had students maintain perfect attendance all the way till mid-November so they can take that whole week off while still having almost perfect attendance. And I'm generally lenient with my attendance grades. But yet they do that. They shouldn't have to.
That's why I instituted the policy that even if scheduled, I'll have no classes during Thanksgiving week. And plan my Syllabus and pedagogy accordingly.
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