Valentine’s Day is a time when many students might allow schoolwork to slide (slightly). Some embrace this romantic holiday to celebrate with that special someone. Others might choose to go out and have fun. But what happens when students are forced to study? This is the sober reality for some students who have tests on Valentine’s Day or the day after.
Students with tests on Valentine’s Day will need to interrupt their day of love to focus intensely on coursework. For those with an exam the day after, Valentine’s Day will become another day of studying.
Amongst courses which have examinations on Valentine’s Day are Accounting 2610, Introduction to Financial Accounting, and Biology 334, Cell Biology, which has an in-class quiz. Courses with major exams the day after Valentine’s Day include Biology 328, Principles in Human Physiology, and Chemistry 112A, General Chemistry.
While some students with significant others wish their professors would not force them to study on Valentine’s Day, those without someone to celebrate with tend not to mind the inconvenience.
“I know a lot of people who will be studying ridiculously hard on Valentine’s Day when they could be spending time with their boyfriend or their girlfriend,” said freshman Charlene Lai, who is in General Chemistry. “Personally, I don’t really mind but that’s just because at this moment I don’t have a significant other, but I’m sure if I did I’d be pretty annoyed.”
Freshman Ryan Sellers, who is also in General Chemistry, agrees with Lai, adding that he believes professors should consider Valentine’s Day when planning their course schedules.
“I guess I don’t feel that bad about studying on Valentine’s Day because my significant other doesn’t go to Wash. U.,” said Sellers. “I don’t have plans on Valentine’s Day so I don’t mind studying. I could see how for other people it might put a hamper on their plans.”
Other students disagree with these sentiments.
“[Valentine’s Day] shouldn’t be a consideration. It’s not really a religious holiday.” said sophomore Shiv Desai, who is in Introduction to Financial Accounting.
Desai did add, however, that given a choice between having an exam on Valentine’s Day or the day after, he would rather have a test on Valentine’s Day.
Accounting Professor Tzachi Zach said that Valentine’s Day was not a consideration when he decided to administer his exam on the holiday.
“It’s something that people can get over.My view is that unless it’s something that’s really important, I don’t let it interfere with the sequence of the course,” said Zach. “Now, one may view Valentine’s [Day] as really important.but I think that academics are first.You see, with exams, there are several things going on. One is that you want to put the exam in the right place in the sequence of the course.If you start juggling it around, it has implications on the entire planning of the course.”
Zach explained that although he tends not to consider holidays like Valentine’s Day in planning his curriculum, there are certain holidays he does consider.
“I do take into account and look at the schedule ahead of time to see whether other holidays fall in place.So, I would look ahead and see if my exam may fall on Passover, for example, or on any other holiday,” he said.
While students interviewed for this article seemed sympathetic towards Zach’s view, they said that they would prefer to enjoy Valentine’s Day without worrying about intensive studying. “I don’t think it’s insensitive, and I don’t know if they’re doing it [administering tests on Valentine’s Day] on purpose, but I’d rather they didn’t,” said Lai.