Talon Marks Online Opinion
Cerritos College should continue the long tradition of spring break. It gives the students an opportunity for hands-on experience with a skill essential for a successful life: dealing with freedom.
With no scheduled appointments, no classes, no assignments due in one or two days, students get hands-on experience managing time. For one week you get to be your own boss and decide how to use the time you have available.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Once lost, time can never be found again.”
Some students plan ahead to make the best use of the week of freedom. The few planners take advantage of the opportunity to get ahead on research papers, catch up on reading, finish projects ahead of time, apply for a summer job or rack up overtime at the job they have or some other responsible activity.
On the other extreme are those that live by the teachings of Backus, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die.” These students have no intention of achieving much more than; go somewhere, get stupid, act stupid, forget reality for a week and hope no one posts evidence on Facebook.
It’s the freedom of choice that matters most. For one week, students are at the wheel of their own ships. What they choose indicates their readiness to join society as contributing members, or not.
What a wonderful opportunity to get insight on friends’ priorities. Getting together to compare notes allows you to see what’s important to your friends.
If a friend chose to spend spring break painting his mother’s house for free, that tells you something. Another friend who asks you to please tell him what he did, that could indicate something very different.
The choices are limitless as time itself. Dealing with such enormous freedom of choice will help students better prepare for the daily challenge of time management.
Spring break is an important aspect of college life. In the end, it allows each student insight into themselves. Do you look back on the seven days with pride or bewilderment?
Cerritos College should continue the tradition of spring break to better prepare the graduates for the unstructured world they will all soon face.
