We speak about winter break like it is such a long time off of school, but in reality, it is much shorter than we think. Our last day of school will be on December 19, 2025, and we will return on January 5, 2026. That makes a total of 16 days off school, which is two weeks plus an extra weekend. And these are not any ordinary two weeks that offer the opportunity to rest and reset for the rest of the year; they are filled with major holidays with days of activities surrounding them.
The purpose of breaks is to be away from school and have a moment to relax and to only focus on work or pursue other interests. It is a moment for us to just be teenagers, since school, homework, extracurricular activities and everything else can feel like a full-time job. Having a longer break gives you more time to rest and reset.
An article by Rogers Behavioral Health compares our bodies and minds to a car. “Like a run-down car, a tired brain might stutter and stall when it tries to work,” according to the article. “Just like a car needs to stop for refueling and maintenance, rest helps our bodies and minds run well.”
Rest is important for both your mental and physical well-being. While you can feel more productive if you just keep going, taking time to rest is crucial. With holiday celebrations, we have fewer free days during break. Many holidays have a week of celebrations. Additionally, not all of these holidays line up in the two-week window of winter break.
Christmas, Kwanzaa, Yule and New Years are all in our winter break, but Hanukkah and Las Posadas both start shortly before. Expanding winter break to start a week earlier would allow for more holidays to fall during break and make finals week less busy and stressful for those who celebrate those holidays.
Winter break could also be expanded from the other end. Coming back from break a week later would also be beneficial. In the last two years, we have had at least one e-learning day due to snow, ice and below freezing temperatures in the first week back. Coming back to school after our usual coldest days would prevent teachers from having to adjust their class plans, and potentially other days in the week, if assignments are not translatable to a Google Meet.
Not all assignments can be translated to online schedules and retain their full potential of impact without being modified or changed entirely. This can cause a rocky beginning to the whole semester. While ending break later will by no means eliminate snow days or e-learning days, we can potentially avoid them and have a smoother start to second semester.
Many colleges and universities give a whole month off for winter break compared to our two weeks. If places of higher education are able to allow students this time off, high schools should too. Having more time to celebrate our respective holidays, rest and recover, and start the semester as smoothly as possible can only assist students and teachers, making the break more effective.
