Over the past several years, winter break in the Grosse Pointe Public School System has looked different. Most schools get two weeks off during this time, often letting out the week before Christmas and returning to school after the new year. GPPSS does not do this. Instead winter break is a little over a week. This year students will be out from December 23 to January 2, 2022.
While looking at the length of winter break may seem short, in actuality GPPSS has something many schools don’t have; Midwinter break. Based on anecdotal evidence from friends and family at different schools, the week of presidents’ day in february brings a three, maybe four day weekend. We have an entire week. Having this break is only made by cutting down winter break, and honestly, I have no issues with it. If we didn’t have midwinter break, school would go from the beginning of January to the end of March without a break aside from a few three day weekends. I prefer having a break in the middle of that time to divide up my time. School seems to go faster when it’s broken into two chunks instead of one large block of time. The school system follows Wayne County’s requirements on school days. A change a few years ago required changing how long breaks are in Grosse Pointe.
Two weeks off of school sounds nice, and it is, for the first week. I’m someone who needs something to do or else I start to go stir-crazy. For me, a week is the perfect amount of time. Long enough where I can relax and not worry about school, but also short enough that it doesn’t take long to reacclimate to school when we return. Academically, it also makes more sense to take only a week off instead of two. It helps prepare me for midterms once we return. The more time I take off of school, the more time it takes me to review material I already learned. Our midterms occur only soon after we return to school. This helps teachers too, because students don’t have as much time off when they go to review. They will retain more of the material.
Several study methods utilize several medium length blocks of time, followed by breaks in order to maximize potential. Applying that same logic to our breaks would mean having more frequent breaks. The only way we can really achieve this without seriously changing the start and end dates of the school year is through how breaks are given. I like midwinter break more than I like winter break. If taking a few days off of other breaks means we can keep it, then I have no issue.