It’s the day before winter break, and you’re walking through the halls of your elementary school, which are lined with colorful decorations. Kids are talking and laughing on their way to class. As you walk into your classroom, you see fun crafts set up at every table and hear holiday music playing faintly in the background. Everyone’s excited and ready to be done with school.
While this sort of thing is pretty normal for younger grades, high schools should also have fun days like these to celebrate holidays. It would make school feel a lot more fun, bring everyone together, help boost motivation and give us all a break from the usual class routine. And let’s be honest. Who is actually getting any work done on the last day of school before break anyways?
When I was in elementary school, my favorite days were when each holiday would roll around. I always looked forward to the holidays because of the fun crafts and activities that the school had to offer. We would exchange fun little cards for Valentine’s Day, trace our hands to make colorful turkeys for Thanksgiving, exchange goodie bags full of candy for Halloween and create fun ornaments to bring home and hang on our Christmas trees.
These activities were not just ways to engage us as students, but they created core memories that were important for our development as kids. It gave me an opportunity to bond with my classmates and use teamwork and communication to my advantage. They often involved creativity, helping to develop our senses of imagination and expression too. If these activities carried over into high school, they could continue to provide those same benefits for teenagers. It is important to remember that even high schoolers are still developing, so these skills are just as valuable to us.
As students transition from middle school to high school, they have to get used to more mundane and boring routines, which can drain them. High school can be a harsh and repetitive process for many students. It is not uncommon for students to be overwhelmed with stress as a result of school’s nature and the amount of work they are required to do. Having days specifically dedicated to celebrations can give students a well-needed break from schoolwork and something to look forward to.
Not only would this benefit students, but teachers would be in favor as well. Having days to celebrate holidays could give teachers a good opportunity to connect with their students and give them a break from teaching, which can be very stressful.
“Sometimes it’s okay to just be fun and festive,” said Kaneland English teacher Lauren Krage. “I think it would be pretty beneficial for all of us to just take a break and relax a little bit.”
When students come to school on a holiday, let’s face it: Many of them don’t get much work done anyway. The holiday itself already excites and occupies the minds of the students, diminishing their ability to concentrate. So if they are already distracted, what’s the harm in giving them a day where they can express their excitement without worrying about missing or uncompleted work?
“The days before Thanksgiving or Christmas break, the whole day I feel like I’m just waiting to go home and relax,” sophomore Ava Dewig said. “I usually find myself rushing through my work in class and counting the minutes until the bell rings.”
A lot of students, just like Ava, are distracted by their anticipation. This can lead to negative effects on their grade, especially if their classwork is weighted.
“Some of my teachers have even assigned summatives on the last day of school before break,” Dewig said. “I think that is a terrible idea because everyone is obviously not putting complete thought into their answers, since they are more excited about being done with schoolwork for an entire week or so.”
Due to stress and the lack of focus, having a day to relax and celebrate could help both teachers and students.
One common concern is that having these celebrations could possibly run into problems with religion. However, high schools could enforce rules that prevent these issues from happening.
“It should include a mandate for a variety of different holidays that should be celebrated,” Krage said. “Or maybe we could just remove the holiday from it, and it could just be a seasonal celebration, so we can just relax without running into any issues.”
If the school celebrated a variety of holidays, bringing awareness to more than one, these issues could be easily prevented.
Celebrating different holidays could also help everyone feel included. It can help students share what they usually do for each holiday and bond with their classmates over their traditions. This can especially help build community within the classroom.
“[Celebrating a variety of holidays] could teach so many more students that there is more out there than the things that they know,” Spanish teacher Angela Francis said. “So that way they can experience different cultures and holidays.”
Francis is one of the teachers that puts some thought into decorating her room for the holidays. Her room is decorated right now, thanks to the help of some of her students.
“My room is always decorated, especially around Christmas. I bring trees and play Christmas music,” Francis said. “I think kids love to come into the room just for that, compared to other teachers that do nothing.”
The decorations in her classroom not only make learning in her classroom a lot more enjoyable, but they also show her dedication to making school a fun and engaging place for all of her students.
Some people also make the argument that high school is supposed to prepare students for college, so celebrating holidays would waste valuable educational time. However, it is important to remember that education isn’t just about academics. Celebrating holidays can teach students valuable knowledge about things like cultural inclusivity, community and empathy. This knowledge is important for development and very useful to have, especially in the world outside of school.
“Celebrating holidays together makes us more of a closer family and brings more union between students and teachers,” Francis said. “Celebrating the whole holiday would be more of a nice, warm, welcoming feeling for everybody.”
Bringing holiday celebrations into high school could really benefit not just the students, but everyone throughout the school. Let’s help make holidays something we can all look forward to, just like in elementary school.
