As students across the nation start their second semester, they are greeted by arctic blasts of wind, 20 degree weather and, of course, snow. Many students revel in the fact that snow days mean a day off to do whatever their wild hearts desire, but now, more colleges across the country are making snow days alternative school days. The days of waking up and doing your happy dance because of snow-covered streets are over. Professors are now creating a virtual classroom that will cause you to rethink these coveted days off.
When I was a freshman in college, snow days, for the most part, were days to make bad decisions and regret them the next day. Now, in my third year of college, I am instructed during syllabus week that if there are any snow days, I will have loads of work to keep me occupied and despise the mere sight of anything fluffy and white. So why did this whole genius plan start? To ruin any hope I had of sleeping the day away? Not exactly.
After the last couple horrible winters, where students would end up missing a week or more of classes, faculty and staff needed to come together and figure out a way to get the most out of these days. Not only did snow days mean the possibility of extending students’ stay at college, but it also meant that students were losing money fast. Emerson College’s student newspaper, ‘The Berkeley Beacon,’ published a snow calculator so students could see how much these wonderful days of Netflix and spiked hot cocoa really did to their pockets.
The “snow calculator” asks four simple questions about how long you go to class. After I calculated how many hours I am in class, I would be losing over one thousand dollars for a snow day. I was going into this article with pent up anger and resentment for my professors and the school itself. I was going to say, “how dare they take more of my time and more of my slowly fizzling-out brain.” I was going to ask, “do they really think I have time to do more meaningless work?” I was going to urge students to sign a petition forcing the school to reconsider their position on diminishing our snow days to work days.
But now, after seeing what a couple days of missed classes can cost me, I think it is safe to say that I will take a virtual class. At least I still get to spike my hot chocolate AND take Netflix breaks.
