Ah, the post-Thanksgiving rush! We return to campus with our bellies stuffed like Thursday’s turkeys and our minds building Christmas wish lists. But with just one week until final exams, it’s crunch time.
I will have, essentially, a three-week Christmas Break before January Term. With just one essay due during finals week, I seem to have it made. Or do I? Having so little to do during finals week means that all of my tests, essays and other end-of-the-semester projects are due next week.
Now, I know many students see this as the supreme finals schedule, but I would much rather have the extra week to complete my final assignments than have them all due by next Thursday.
Linfield faculty members have been working to hammer out a solution to Spring Semester grading, and one idea they proposed involved getting rid of Reading Day. This was not their top solution, but perhaps it should have been ranked higher. My current “finals” schedule seems to render Reading Day useless. What am I supposed to study on Reading Day if all of my finals take place before then?
I know there are other students with this same problem, and I wonder what drives faculty to schedule finals before finals week. If the issue lies in needing more time to grade student work, then perhaps a version of the faculty’s proposition about spring grading could be applied to Fall Semester. But if the concern is that students and professors are unable or unwilling to meet for an hour and a half during finals week, then scheduling finals before finals week is not justified.
Finals week exists for a reason. As a separate week, it allows students to complete cumulative exams, essays and presentations after classes end, and it allows professors to finish teaching material without worrying about scheduling a final during class time.
Scheduling finals earlier means professors skimp on teaching important material. Early finals schedules rob students of essential time required to complete intense final essays and projects or study for final exams.
So, in the immortal words of Patrick Henry the acne-ridden student, Give me finals week, or give me less (homework).

Kelley Hungerford/Editor-in-chief
Kelley Hungerford can be reached at [email protected].