Thanksgiving is a time of rest, where students can spend time with family and friends, celebrating all that they are grateful for. Many families like to travel too for Thanksgiving, whether they are planning to visit family or just for fun. Even though Thanksgiving is an annual and national holiday in the United States and almost 95% of Americans celebrate it, countless schools across the country do not give students the whole week off. Many schools only give two days off, because break lengths are chosen by local control.

Schools that do not give the full week off for students state that they receive many unexcused absences the few days before Thanksgiving, which leads to school districts losing money every day for every student who’s absent. According to Steven Keller, a superintendent at Redondo Beach Unified, “My school district keeps attendance at about 98%. Dipping below 95% attendance is worrisome because my 9,500-student school district would lose about $50 per day for every student who’s absent.” If schools gave the full week off for students, attendance rates would continue to flourish and kids would not have to miss school for Thanksgiving family commitments. Students would be able to spend more time with family that they might not see many other times other than holidays.

The students who do have to go to school the days before Thanksgiving though, are many times distracted and not paying attention to their work. Many students lose motivation, which is not much better than actually missing school altogether, because then they won’t try to do well on their schoolwork. If all schools nationwide gave their students the full week off, academic burnouts would decrease due to students being given more time to rest, catch up, and rejuvenate, which leads to better academic performance.

Lastly, not only is the full week beneficial to students, but also to teachers and school faculty. Staff can disconnect from work, spend time with family, and travel for longer rather than just trying to fit it all in over a weekend. Schools can always fit in the extra few days that students miss over the break into a different time in the school calendar as well. Overall, a full week off has more pros than cons, which supports the claim that schools and universities should start providing a longer Thanksgiving break.