The Final Stretch

As everyone is well aware finals are rapidly approaching.  And for those of you who were unaware of this, FINALS ARE COMING!  So, now you know. 

Upon talking to my friends from high school, we are all in or are approaching “Hell Week”.  “Hell Week” is that week before finals when all the work you thought you would have time to do later has piled up to its maximum height.  A simple mathematical equation sums up finals pretty succinctly: too much work + too little time + high expectations and demands from professors=Finals.  All those pages of reading you skipped, notes you never took nor reviewed and papers you haven’t quite started yet are all due in several days.  My graduating high school class went to a variety of different schools.  Some went to big universities and some went to small liberal arts colleges.  However, several have told me that they have this miraculous little thing called “Reading Week”.  To sum it up, these lucky students get an entire week off from class to catch up on everything and study for their finals.  How jealous are you?  There is not much I wouldn’t give for a whole week to study to pull myself together and finish all my work and exam preparation.  In these past few days, I have not seen much of the outside world.  I have been in The Grad working every spare moment I can find trying to finish every assignment and memorize every fact I possibly can before the Big Day of my exam. 

Now, I’m curious to learn why the University of Michigan has not implemented this lovely idea of a Reading Week.  I’m sure students would not mind adding another fourteen days to our schedules before each semester's finals.  It would prevent many of us from having a few panic attacks or all nighters.  Is there some unwritten rule that finals must be nauseatingly stressful?  Difficult yes, but is the stress and sleep deprivation really necessary?  So, guys, who else is in favor of an extra week?