You’ve heard of it, probably experienced it, and often times dread it — Dead Week. With the dawn of a new Dead Week quickly approaching, many students, me included, wonder why the University calls this Dead Week. It is apparent to me that this week, in fact, is not dead, but livelier than most weeks, academically speaking.
Calling the week before finals Dead Week is a misnomer; however, it doesn’t have to be. Now is the time for Chancellor James Oblinger and Provost Larry Nielsen to revisit the way our campus handles the week prior to finals.
It’s time to put the final nail in the Dead Week coffin and make it truly dead.
Final exams are some of the most important tests in a student’s academic career. Often times, students spend countless hours in the library, their dorms, or apartments studying into the wee hours of the morning to prepare for their last exam of the semester. Late night studying takes place in part because, during the day, students are finishing projects and papers that are due for the very class they are studying for late at night.
If you ask anyone associated with education, they will tell you that late night studying is the worst way to go about preparing for finals. As the clock moves from the late night into the early morning, the retention of information decreases, thus having to spend more time reviewing the same figures and statistics.
During the days of Dead Week students have way too much on their plates and now the University must act. If we want to uphold the name of Dead Week, the administration must make the University slow down. Having a campus where classes are not in session, where studying can take place during the course of the day and where retention is highest, would be one avenue to consider – the University of Texas operates under a similar model.
Another option that the University can consider is to have classes in session, but not allow any papers, projects or tests to be given or due. This time can be used to allow students to review, with professors, the material that has been taught over the course of the past semester.
Currently, professors are allowed to have things due during Dead Week if it is on the syllabus at the beginning of the semester. This adds to students’ stress levels at a time when they are already elevated.
The week before and during exams is already extremely stressful, and the University should aid in the reduction of student stress as much as possible.
The present policy in place (REG 02.20.14) gives too much leeway to professors to put unnecessary pressure on students. The University must take the reins and have every student on the same level when it comes to Dead Week.
The University should do as much as it can to aid in student academic success, even if it means not having class. The Student Senate crafted two bills and resolutions about Dead Week over the past three years. This is an issue students have talked about for sometime, and the administration needs to listen and respond.
Take action and make the changes that students are and have been calling for with regard to Dead Week. Changes to Dead Week can only lead in one direction: a positive one. All it takes is the first step in that direction.
It’s time for the chancellor and provost to take that step.
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