Study days are the biggest teasers for students that are about to go on break. Their main purpose is to allow students to dedicate one or two days to studying for their upcoming finals. Given, most students don’t take advantage of the extra studying time, and instead treat it as a day off – still, study days are important.

The week of and the week before final exams are distributed, life is a hot mess for all students. There’s no other way of putting it. Even if you personally don’t have any heavy exams to take, the campus environment itself stresses you out.  Everyone’s head is shoved into a book, the coffee runs out twice as fast, and the library looks like a scene from the Walking Dead. Oh, and everyone is complaining,

For that exact chaotic-filled reason, the university decided to put their students first and give them these magical things called “study days.” Now, just because the university cares about the well-being of their students, doesn’t mean all professors have the same perspective. Those same professors are part of the minority that dares to schedule classes on such a sacred day such as a study day.

I don’t think they’re heartless, I just think they have a lot of time on their hands.

Study days are crucial for a student’s mental stability, no exaggeration needed. Classes are stressful, exams are stressful, and the pressure is real. So why play with a student’s emotions and deprive them of the ability to debrief the week and get back on track – ready and recharged?

Furthermore, the study day was already scheduled, so there’s no reason for you to feel like it interfered with your syllabi and curriculum. Was it really necessary to make your students come to class for a few hours when you could have planned ahead?

Scheduling classes on a study day is like saying, “I don’t give out A’s” during your class introduction. You and your class will inevitably leave a bad taste in a student’s mouth. Both scenarios make student’s feel like accomplishing anything in your class is impossible. If you won’t give them the opportunity to earn an A, and you won’t allow them the necessary (required) time to study for your exam  — then are you really surprised by the Rate My Professor comments?

Professors, you were all students at one point or another, so please don’t complicate things. We’re all counting on you.