Keep the Current Calendar

Supporting the status quo may be unfashionable at Harvard, but some of us actually like having finals after the winter break.

No professor can order anyone to work over break. The only work students are "forced" to do during vacation is work that can't be done otherwise.

Of course, the staff evidently doesn't feel that it needs those extra two weeks to get the work done that was put off during the semester. Thus, they want Harvard to force students to acquire the self-discipline to cram in their activities, a little fun and the end-of-the-semester work in a shorter period of time.

But the workload wouldn't get lighter-the time for doing it would just get shorter. And people active in extracurricular activities would be forced to do their planning and work for next-semester projects (spring registration issues, for example) during reading and exam period as well.

To be honest, how many of us are in any condition to take exams at the end of classes? Winter break gives everyone a chance to get some sleep before returning to the full grind of studying and papers.

Yes, Harvard's exam schedule is somewhat eccentric. But, unlike the staff, we like being different, standing above the crowd. That's why we're living in Cambridge, instead of, say, New Haven.