Juliet O’Brien

on midterm breaks

We’re at the end of an institutional midterm break, a “reading week” that could be a time for reading, dreaming, and imagining other worlds. Consider doing what you can to subvert a system from within: the next time that you’re designing and planning courses, the next time we have a midterm break please make it a break, for everyone. No assignments right before which then hang over faculty for marking. No assignments during the break for students. No test/exam assignments immediately after the break which mean that students “study” during the (pseudo-)break. If you “have” to have an assignment at…