A topic of debate at Fanshawe has always been should students have a fall reading week in their academic schedule or is it too much?
Fall reading weeks were introduced to Universities and a few Ontario colleges to help deal with the stress that students have studying for Mid-Term Exams. However, introducing a fall reading week could affect Fanshawe’s Academic Schedule as Students already have a Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas Holiday, and Spring Break. Another issue for Ontario colleges would be that a reading week in the fall would have students start the fall semester in late August, possibly causing housing issues. The other possibility would be cutting the Christmas break from three weeks to two, which students – especially those who have to travel to go home for the holidays – may not agree with.
Fanshawe students currently are on the neutral side as some would love to have a reading week to help them have time to study while others think the schedule is fine as it is. The issue is that some students in work-load programs like Nursing believe that they deserve a reading week. For now, Fanshawe will continue operating its no-fall reading week policy.