From the last week of March to the first week of April, I remember having done nothing. I’d like to claim that the two-week break gave me my much-needed reprieve. And perhaps it did, to a certain extent. I was able to catch up on some of the TV series I’ve put on hold for weeks, spend time with friends, and most of all, sleep at every chance I can get.

But there was also the crippling anxiety looming throughout. Unfinished tasks with deadlines weigh heavily on me. A growing pile of readings remained largely ignored. And when classes resumed, I felt the need to adjust all over again after temporarily forgetting I was still a student.

So when I read that the University Council recently voted to remove the uniform reading break in the next academic year, I was bothered. I agree that the long break disrupts the learning momentum, warranting it to be spread out across the semester at the behest of each college instead. I also understand that the crammed days of learning the subject’s material due to successive breaks constrain professors’ course design and objectives. 

It makes sense, then, that the reading break is scheduled consistent with each course’s needs. But I fear that such measures will be detrimental if units fail to comprehensively consult their constituents and recognize the imperative of rest for students. 

For one, the move may be used to transfer the reading break at the latter part of the semester to give ample time for students to prepare for their finals. This means that the break, yet again, is not so much geared toward allowing us to seek genuine respite but merely to drive us to further immerse in our academic requirements. 

The pursuit of ultra-productivity is a self-defeating one. By failing to facilitate conditions conducive to meaningful rest, the university burns students out and only debilitates us from functioning at our best. During one of the most stressful weeks I’ve had last month, my body just gave up on me. I became physically ill and I was in deep mental turmoil. I failed a test in a subject I was consistently performing well at. 

One needs to stop momentarily before being given an opportunity to accelerate faster. Breathing spaces allow me to find more meaning in my work, when I am not alienated from the tasks I mechanically accomplish without halt. 

May the university administration realize that dispersing the breaks across the semester will only be useful if they are treated as periods for genuine pause from the academic grind.  The academe should not produce mere machines, but beings capable of nurturing their humanity—a precondition for which is an earnest break. ●