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[thundering_m]

A one-day holiday has become an automatic 4-day weekend recently expanded to 5 in order to allow a day of travel to get to the Thanksgiving destination, leaving only 2 days left in the week... and you guessed it, the sweet young things are shyly asking if they will miss anything important on Monday or Tuesday of next week because they have to go home already over the weekend for an important funeral/birthday/tournament and they  hate to have to make another round trip...

So far, I have resisted (I think) appearing as impatient as I feel when they ask how important the class will be, or of giving them a level gaze and asking "Do you feel lucky? Huh, punk?" but I do tend to observe in as neutral a way as I can that  they are adults and must live their lives as they see fit to satisfy their many obligations.  With I shrug, I can say that they must weigh the costs and benefits: each event merits its own round trip, and each hour of contact time with the professor merits its tuition. Just how much time and money do you want to spend and what do you get or lose as a result?

Maybe if Thanksgiving weren't so darn close to the end of our term, and we just had Veterans' Day off,  I wouldn't be so irritated by this. Perhaps this is just the stress and fatigue mentioned on other threads talking, or, appallingly, my comparison of my own experiences over the years. Even as an undergrad  I missed many Thanksgivings because of great distance from family; many of our Thanksgivings have been ad hoc gatherings of others far from home. It has been common to have family members gone because of deployments or working at jobs that require  someone to be on duty and they share which holidays each worker gets off. In those circumstances there was no choice, and skipping work was never an option. I cannot believe I am about to launch into a "when I was your age and we walked uphill in the snow both ways" diatribe.

So I am sharing those thoughts here. What are yours? Do you also see a cultural or generational difference revealed by Thanksgiving?

[csgirl]

I went to college in the early 80's, at a school where most students were out of state, and it was just as bad back then. In my teaching career, I have always pretty much assumed that Thanksgiving week is a useless week. I personally blame the whole frenzy around Thanksgiving - the idea that everyone is going to travel hundreds of miles for a one day holiday is quite ridiculous. It is such a high pressure holiday because of the travel. The universities make things worse by closing down the dorms. At Christmas, fewer people travel and yet most people still have more time off. In China, the Lunar New Year is a very similar holiday to Thanksgiving, with the same expectation that everyone will travel home - but they get 2 weeks off.

[inthelab]

The universities make things worse by closing down the dorms.

This is key. 

I am writing now as the parent of one in college out of state.  Her school closes down dorms AND university-owned housing (which means essentially all undergrad housing).   Her school started closing Wednesdays because of this policy (I went there and in the day you could stay over the holiday, just no meal service provided). Not to mention the fact that faculty may be traveling that week to be with family; when older one was in college she had classes on the Wednesday but no profs showed up.  However she did.

[scienceguy]

My CC gives students the entire week of Thanksgiving off.

Wouldn't you know it... I've received a plethora of "Are we doing anything important THIS Thursday?" questions. Gee... there's nothing like a 11-day weekend.

We should just make 'em go to glass through Wednesday of Thanksgiving. The students who are going to bail early are going to bail early. As for me... I'm giving an exam the last day before break, and my make-ups are the stuff of legend.

[inthelab]

We should just make 'em go to glass through Wednesday of Thanksgiving. The students who are going to bail early are going to bail early. As for me... I'm giving an exam the last day before break, and my make-ups are the stuff of legend.

I agree with you, and keep university housing open.  My uni has classes through next Wednesday.

[georgiaprof]

We have two days vacation - Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday.  We also have a furlough day for Wednesday.  We don't traditionally have classes on Wednesday - so this was an easy target.  Great way to celebrate. (Let's throw a party and spend the money that was docked from my check!  Hooray!)

[sugaree]

Back when I taught in the U.S., I hated Thanksgiving creep and would always hold class on the Wednesday before. Usually that class was close review for the final exam or screening of a video that I'd be sure to ask about on the final. Those who showed up were greatly rewarded. Those who decided to skip (and that's what it is, yes, and I don't care about your travel - if I have to suck it up, so you do) missed out.

[temporaryname]

My mid-size public university has the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, but that makes sense given the transportation network around here--for those from out of the immediate area, even in-state, giving them a full day to travel is only sensible if they're to actually be where they're going by mealtime Thursday. Pressure from students toward Thanksgiving creep certainly still happens, though, with transportation difficulties being one of the main excuses given.

However, I (and most other faculty here) do hold classes on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I try to make it worth it for the ones that show up, though--in one class they're getting the only overview I'm giving on how to do about half of a significant assignment that comes due a week after Thanksgiving, in another class they're getting what amounts to the answers for a good chunk the final if they pay attention (and I'll tell them so), and so on.

[glowdart]

I always stayed at college over Thanksgiving, but that was because the dorms and the dining hall were open, and I was not going to fly home for a three day weekend.  Now, the dining hall was NOT open on Thanksgiving day and we had reduced hours, # of meals, type of food and used sporks & paper plates the rest of the time so that the entire staff didn't need to be there.  That school had an international study body, and so there were always a ton of people on campus for the holiday; they knew it was impossible to kick us all out for a four-day weekend.  The library was open short hours, too, and we were all in there working.

Current place closes the dorms despite having a national student body, so we have Thanksgiving creep even though we have classes on Monday & Tuesday.  I have more sympathy for the students from the other side of the country, but not for the people who live an hour away.  I am holding classes.  I expect lousy attendance. 

Even as an adult, I have never travelled for Thanksgiving unless I lived close to relatives; it has always been a "who is around this year" pot-luck meal with friends.  Thanksgiving weekend is grading catch-up and end-of-semester prep-ahead time.  And, if the decorations don't go up then, then they never will get up. 

[madhatter]

I wonder if the airlines are contributing to this? With consolidation and the drastic cutbacks in flight schedules, it can be nearly impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to travel on the day of or day before Thanksgiving. Return flights are also challenging.

[verbena]

We only have Thursday and Friday off, which annoys me as it means that neither students nor faculty can really travel anywhere for Thanksgiving. (Actually, the staff gets Wednesday off, but the students and faculty don't, and that's just weird.)

I canceled my Wednesday classes and meetings -- it's on the syllabus that class is canceled -- because my students know that they are not allowed to miss my class unless they are so ill they can't walk.

[thundering_m]

I wonder if the airlines are contributing to this? With consolidation and the drastic cutbacks in flight schedules, it can be nearly impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to travel on the day of or day before Thanksgiving. Return flights are also challenging.

Good point, Mad Hatter. I have returned later than absolutely necessary from a conference because the flight would have cost hundreds more and it was mostly out of pocket.

[anthroid]

My memory of my college years, back in the 1970s, is that we had the Wednesday off.  It's been a 2-day holiday work-wise for my entire life as I recall, and that's 51 years--so, really, it's been a four-day weekend.  This is one of the truly unique American (US) secular holidays, though, and I do really love it (see my thread on Meet and Greet!). 

I went to college in St. Paul and my family was in Chicago, so I was always able to get home.  My current institution has a slightly longer break, one which I have not encountered before.  Our official policy is:  classes are held next Monday and Tuesday without question.  I tend not to be forgiving of faculty who try to cancel classes as university policy clearly states that we will hold class both days.  We need to model seriousness of purpose to our students, even if their parents seem to think missing a week of class is not a big deal.

TM, the Veterans' Day off would irritate me too. 

[mystictechgal]

At my place, we have Wed, Thurs, and Fri off. Many, many students take the whole week off. I too, usually do something on Mon and Tues that will show up on finals, etc. I wish the university would keep track and publish numbers of students who never return from Thanksgiving break. (They probably do, but won't share.)

My own children don't have Wed off (which makes out T-day travel a b*tch). They do, however, have the Monday after Thanksgiving off. This is because it is the opening of deer season. Or deer season with guns. I guess. 

I do not have that Monday off, though many of my students see the open of deer hunting as something of statewide holiday. Lots of students are shocked and appalled that I don't consider hunting grounds for  an "excused" absence.

Opening day of deer season is an excused absence for kids in HS around here and in the next State North of here as long as they bring in their hunting license.  Some of your students may come from schools with a similar practice.  Just sayin'.

Heck, in my county the kids start school in September, go for one week, and then they close all of the schools back down for a week so the kids can attend the county fair without penalty.

[anthroid]

A very dear and old friend lives in Marin Co., California, where the public schools take a week off in February for ski week.

She could not understand why I was appalled.  OTOH, her kid is very, very bright and is performing far beyond his grade level, largely because of her efforts.