Assorted Afflatuses

Much to the delight of home fitness equipment manufacturers, the Thanksgiving holiday will take place this coming Thursday. So, students across the nation have begun or will begin their Thanksgiving breaks at some point during the week. At my school that break began today, at around half-past eleven, following an wholly unproductive "half-day" of school.

For whatever reason, the administrators at my school decided that, with only half a day to educate us this week, they would have us come to school and attend each of our classes for a wholesome 26 minutes. In theory, this plan is imbecilic. In practice it's even worse.

Today, I accomplished next to nothing in the four-ish hours I spent at school. I helped one beleaguered classmate with her crossword puzzle - though I really only managed to fill in one or two clues - and I managed to solve a handful of organic chemistry problems with help from the two people in that class who had not begun to dance or play "hacky sack."

Anyone with half a brain should have realized that students and teachers would accomplish next to nothing in 26 minute class periods.

Teachers cannot possibly teach anything in 26 minutes. Reasonably, it takes ten minutes to let the class settle in and perhaps another five, at the end, to let them prepare to leave. On any other day with hour-plus periods, a teacher has at least 45 minutes to impart knowledge. With 26, on the other hand, they have almost none.

As such, students will do what students will do: digress into strange behavior. Giving students the entire day off would have been far more productive even if every student only managed to finish one math problem at some point between the hours of 8:15 and 11:30 AM.

I have no idea who dreamt up such vapid a schedule, but he or she desperately needs a potent injection of intelligence.