This is one of four opinion published in the mail home edition of The Daily Campus. The series is as follows: Internationalizing SMU, Pride & Unity, Class Ratings and Lack of Reading Days.
Being asked to write about an “issue” facing SMU students is difficult. There might be some bias in this statement, but I think SMU is the best university in the country.
With that being said, there is one specific quality of life issue at SMU that I hope to address early on as Student Body President to continue the betterment of SMU.
Being exhausted and worn out following finals week – like most every college student – has become more traditional over the past few years at SMU.
As SMU progresses towards becoming a top-tier university, the academic rigor increases with each surpassing day. Deans are hiring the most esteemed professionals, counselors are encouraging additional courses and professors are expecting more, all which lead to an academic overload come semester’s end.
Reading days were created and intended to soften this overload issue while allowing each student to perform adequately on his or her exam with appropriate preparation time.
This past academic year, we were allotted one reading day in the fall and zero in the spring.
It is difficult to turn around after the last day of class and immediately take a final exam the following day.
However one wants to use his or her extra time, the opportunity should be presented. There is a substantial difference between mid-week semester exams and final exams.
Being realistic in my approach, I understand this reality depends a lot on the yearly calendar. Like many situations, an extra effort and small sacrifice must be made by both parties in order to efficiently accomplish the task at hand.
Professors forget that their current class is not the only class a student takes throughout the semester. Balancing a collegiate academic workload at a premier university is hard enough as is, but adding the stress of inadequate preparation time only makes the situation more daunting.
I would like to see a mandated minimum of at least one reading day per academic semester.
This is also an issue, however, that is here to stay when dealt with year by year. I hope to work with the rest of Student Senate and the Faculty Senate to ensure that a reading day minimum is set for years to come.
