Across the country, students enjoy time off of school in September or October for fall break. This year, in Indiana, schools such as Hamilton Southeastern High School and Fishers High School had a full week-long break. Cathedral, however, only received three days off of school: October 19, 20, and 21.

According to a survey sent out to the student body on October 17, the majority of students would prefer to have a full week off of school for fall break instead of the three days they were given.

When asked why they wanted a longer fall break, students listed various reasons, such as that three days isn’t long enough to be considered a break, the two days of school before break are pointless, the current break doesn’t allow for vacations of satisfactory length, and so on.

Junior Sarah Lowe said, “Most of my teachers don’t even lecture during this week, and many of my teachers give us free class time. A lot of students leave early anyways, so there isn’t much teachers can assign during class.”

Adding on to Lowe’s statement, freshman Sammie Frizzell said, “The three-day break makes traveling very difficult for families. Many students end up taking off the whole week anyways. Students should not have to miss school to get a break that works for them and their families.”

A longer fall break wouldn’t just be helpful to those vacationing out of state. A full week off of school would benefit students and teachers enjoying a staycation as well.

Junior Caroline Dobrota said, “A weeklong break would allow for less mental stress on educators and students alike. Taking a full week off ensures that students have ample time to relax instead of cramming all their activities into three days — and for those who didn’t finish the fundraiser, it’s two. Both students and teachers need time for themselves, not just for schoolwork.”

On the other hand, some students, such as junior Alex Behringer, prefer the current three-day length of the school’s fall break. Behringer said, “Even though other schools get a week off and many people think that’s unfair, in the long run, we get the same number of days off, because we have more holidays off. I like having more single days off (dispersed throughout the year) rather than having weeks off in a row.”

Freshman Jett Beck agreed, stating, “I feel that it is better to still have school a couple days during the week to keep schoolwork in the back of my mind. If we had an entire week off of school, we would be cramming so much more material than if we had a couple extra days to work with.”

Three days of fall break provides students with shorter breaks throughout the year and a longer summer break, in addition to keeping class material fresh in their minds.

However, a weeklong break would allow students to take longer vacations without missing school and give them more time to fully relax and reset before the second quarter.

Is three days long enough to be considered a break? Should the school switch to a weeklong break?