Opinion: Long Live Dead Week

BJ Mondesir

There are people who honestly believe that dead week is useless. I personally don’t believe that. Since it has been started, I’ve found this week fairly useful. It allows students to catch a breather and have the opportunity to see where they need to play catch up with other work that they need to do without worrying that other teachers will be giving them tests, quizzes or other assignments on top of their existing work.  I came to SWAU in 2012, the year before dead week was established. The next year we had dead week and remembering back I’m able to compare the two. I know without a doubt there was a big difference. In 2012, it was just another stressful week with quizzes, projects and presentations that needed to be done. In 2013, when dead week was put into play, I remember the relaxed feeling I had when I didn’t have to worry about a week of no assignments or projects. It’s a feeling that I’ve cherished every semester since then.

Granted, this is the week when students are supposed to be studying for the upcoming finals, but the reality is, as college students, we have a lot to do. Not everything is always turned in on time. Therefore, if we could find some time to play catch up, like during dead week, students are bound to want to take advantage of it. There are students who are actually on top of things and they get to take the opportunity of dead week to dedicate study time and relax before finals finally arrive.

Why people would think that there’s no point in dead week is beyond me. I suppose that it depends on the perspective of the student, and the teachers. There are some teachers who may not abide by the dead week rules. However, most teachers do and they’ve helped me out in the last couple of years. Sure, there can be improvements to dead week that could benefit both the students and teachers, such as being aware of the kind of projects and assignments that are assigned and when they are assigned. It’s all about exploring options and finding ways to help everyone succeed, because that’s the main goal that everyone is trying to reach. Nobody wants to fail. That’s an automatic given. Dead week was established to help assist students not fail. Whether or not students take advantage of the open window that is given is up to them. In my opinion, dead week was a great idea and I hope that it can last for a long time to aid future students.

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