Class assignments on Blackboard to be done over winter break?

As a college student, winter break is a time to relax, spend time with family and to sit in dimly lit basements with warm, cheap beer while playing endless levels of Call of Duty.

That being said, last month it was that time for students to again log on to Blackboard and find their teachers’ syllabuses. As students began to prepare, many may have also found homework assignments on Blackboard due the first day of class.

“I hate it,” Grand Rapids Community College student Surekha Boeve said when asked about having homework due the first day of class. “I don’t like it because I had an instance where I joined the class the day it started and hadn’t had time to check Blackboard.”

For Boeve, not only did she have to deal with the anxiety of the first day of class, she also had to deal with not having the homework done for the first day.

“I prefer that they don’t put assignments on Blackboard for the first day of class,” Boeve said. “But they are the teachers, and we have to do what they say.”

It’s true; the teacher is in charge of the class, but should they have the power over a student when class hasn’t even started?

I say no.

Anthony Lehnen is a second year student at GRCC who is on the opposite side of the fence.

“If you want to be prepared for the class then it helps,” Lehnen said. “Especially for hard classes, it helps a lot.”

The question then becomes, are students actually doing the work?

“I have had it twice for classes and I did it once,” Lehnen said. “I think a lot of students know they should do the work, but I don’t think most do it.”

I too have had faculty members who put homework and reading assignments on Blackboard due the first day of class.

You can call me lazy but I never actually do it. I may go in with all intentions of doing the work but in the end, I show up to class as unprepared as the student next to me.

Summer break and winter break are a time for students and faculty to sit down, relax and enjoy doing absolutely nothing.

Faculty and staff, do yourselves a favor and stop wasting your time. Feel free to pack as much information into the 15 weeks as you want, but don’t interrupt my free time.