What's Missing This January?

Thankfully, the only thing different about this January is that students will be camping out in Lamont instead of Cabot. With the 24-hour overhaul of Lamont Library, students have enjoyed nearly a semester of opportunities to pull all-nighters. But, as the myriad students sure to be doing just that over the next week or so will prove, they haven’t really been taking full advantage.

In the midst of all this academic agony, we’re grateful that one thing hasn’t yet changed: our calendar. While the Harvard College Curricular Review was in full swing last year, the consolidation of the schedules of all of Harvard’s nine schools seemed imminent. Four of the schools have their finals before break, and the other five, like the College, hold their finals after break. This calendar disconnect makes it harder for students to cross-register for classes at other Harvard schools, erasing some of the synergy that students could theoretically enjoy as part of a larger University.

The College’s schedule is nearly unique. In the Ivy League, only Princeton shares our strange after-break finals schedule. While not the norm, our schedule is also worth keeping. Holding finals after break allows for a long Reading Period. Any College student will tell you that the existing week and a half long Reading Period is crucial to his absorption of course material. Changing finals to before the holiday break would necessitate a drastic shortening of Reading Period, unless the College were also to begin classes in early September instead of mid-September. This fix would have problems of its own, though, too. Both professors and students appreciate the late start date of school because it allows for more travel and reflection during late summer. Ultimately, we like the extra-long study period that holiday break and Reading Period allow for. Sacrificing weeks of summer, a long Reading Period, and an intersession travel period for a run-of-the-mill College schedule is simply not worth it.

With the calendar in imminent danger of being changed, plans for a January Term (“J-Term”) were also being floated. Middlebury, Cornell, MIT, Williams and a host of other schools boast these J-Terms, which allow their students to study independently or participate in numerous different activities in the time between terms. J-Terms offer significant benefits. Students can catch up on coursework or travel internationally during the J-Term, free for an entire month from the crush of schoolwork. We are skeptical about the prospects for a J-Term at Harvard, however. First, it would be difficult to get faculty members to shoulder the extra weight of teaching another course. Also, a J-Term would fill no gaps that currently exist among the opportunities that Harvard provides. Cornell touts the small class sizes during its J-Term. Middlebury and Williams showcase the travel opportunities away from sleepy Vermont and western Massachusetts. But Harvard offers an urban setting with smaller classes than Cornell. And there are already substantial opportunities for students to study abroad both during summer and the semester. Simply put, Harvard doesn’t need a J-Term. Students would be better off with a longer winter break, during which they could take advantage of optional, J-Term-like activities if they so chose. If J-Term is about choice and opportunity, wouldn’t it be best to maximize both for Harvard students by allowing them full freedom to choose exactly how they want to spend their free time?

Thankfully, the debate about calendar change and a J-Term has died down. It appears that the Harvard Corporation—the body which must ultimately approve any calendar change—has more pressing matters to attend to. Stopping the calendar change process has also stopped speculation on the future of a J-Term at Harvard. We hope this pause is indefinite, as the unique advantages our schedule offers now are hard to duplicate with any other allocation of class time.