On Dec. 18, the bell will ring at 12:20 p.m., releasing students from their fourth period final and marking the beginning of Winter Break. In anticipation of the long awaited 2½ week vacation from school, students will flood from their classrooms, leaving the hallways within minutes.

Everyone will have something different to look forward to over break, whether it be skiing, traveling, celebrating holidays, or spending time with relatives. For the first time in months, students will be granted a well-deserved break to be spent without the pressure of homework assignments and upcoming tests. At least, that’s how it should be.

Everyone will spend their break differently, but there is one thing that nobody wants to think about: more homework.

According to a recent Bark survey, 76.9 percent of Redwood sophomores, juniors and seniors have been assigned homework over the Winter Break at some point in their time at high school. Of all of the students who were surveyed, 53.2 percent were assigned homework over Winter Break in classes that are not AP or Honors.

While some teachers will assign reading so that students can keep up with the content during break, others will take it even further by assigning more strenuous and demanding work. Regardless, by the time Winter Break comes along, most students have been working hard for five straight months. It is unfair to put students in a position in which they feel they need to spend their limited time out of the classroom studying to prepare themselves for the next semester.

The spring semester is over five months long. Surely, there is enough time in those five months to cover the required material as opposed to assigning work before the semester even begins.

Additionally, it seems that students will be far more motivated to do their best work in the spring if they have been given the time to rest during break. Many students have no interest in completing extra work when they are already aware of the fact that spring semester will be difficult enough as it is. Furthermore, it seems likely that students will perform better at the beginning of the spring semester if they have been given the time to rest and rejuvenate during break.

Winter Break should be a time for both students and faculty to spend time with families and friends without having to worry about what work remains incomplete in their school planners.