Spring break: Difference between revisions
ClueBot NG (talk | contribs) m Reverting possible vandalism by 67.198.37.84 to version by 152.204.75.171. False positive? Report it. Thanks, ClueBot NG. (2154267) (Bot) |
Tag: possible vandalism |
||
Line 49: | Line 49: | ||
In many regions, the break fulfills the function of making up for snow days in January and February. Because instructors are paid during spring break anyway, school districts do not incur expenses by adding extra days to the school calendar at the end-of-term.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} |
In many regions, the break fulfills the function of making up for snow days in January and February. Because instructors are paid during spring break anyway, school districts do not incur expenses by adding extra days to the school calendar at the end-of-term.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} |
||
I WILL EAT YOUR FACE OFF!!! |
|||
== Spring Break festivals == |
== Spring Break festivals == |
Revision as of 19:49, 9 March 2015
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2010) |
Spring break is a vacational period in early spring at universities and schools in various countries in the northern hemisphere.
It is also known by names such as Easter vacation, Easter Holiday, March break, spring vacation, Mid-Term Break, study week, reading week, reading period, or Easter week, depending on regional conventions.
History and timing
Spring break is an academic tradition in various mostly western countries, that is scheduled for different periods depending on the state and sometimes the region.
In Asia
- Japan
In Japan, the spring break starts with the end of the academic year in March and ends on April 1 with the beginning of a new academic year.[citation needed]
- South Korea
In South Korea, the spring break starts in mid-February (the end of the academic year) and ends on March 1st (a national holiday) with the beginning of a new academic year.[citation needed]
In Europe
- Germany
In Germany, universities typically schedule a semester break of five to eight weeks around March. The Whitsun (Pentecost) holidays around late May or early June are also considered a spring break.[1]
- Greece
In Greece, spring break takes place during the Holy Week and the one after it.[citation needed]
- Lithuania
In Lithuania, spring break( called Easter holidays or spring holidays) takes place one week before Easter and one day after it (as it is the second day of Easter), all school student have this vacation. Primary school students have another week of holidays after Easter.
- United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, university students typically have an Easter holiday of about a month, approximately coinciding with the month of April.(See Computus)[citation needed]
In North America
- Canada
Canada gives a week-long break to its elementary school and secondary school students in the month of March, with the time varying from province to province; New Brunswick and Quebec, for example, place their March breaks during the first week of March; Ontario, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia schedule theirs during the second or third week; and the break in Alberta and Manitoba usually occurs in the last week of March. Post-secondary students in Ontario and Alberta usually get a week off in mid-February.[citation needed]
- Guatemala
In Guatemala, it takes place during Easter; schools give students a whole week to rest while the workforce rests approximately three days.[citation needed]
- Jamaica
In Jamaica, the spring break starts in the first week of March. The break may range from three days to one week.[citation needed]
- Mexico
In Mexico, spring break takes place during the Holy Week and the one after it.[citation needed]
- United States
In the United States, spring break at the college and university level can occur from March to April, depending on term dates the Easter holiday. Usually spring break is about one week long, but many K–12 institutions in the United States schedule a two-week-long break known as "Easter Break," "Easter Holidays", or "Easter Vacation" as they generally take place in the weeks before and/or after Easter.[citation needed] However, in the states of Massachusetts and Maine, schools typically schedule spring break for the week of the third Monday in April to coincide with Patriots' Day.
- Colombia
In Colombia, Spring break takes place the first week of April, during the Holy Week until the second week.
In many regions, the break fulfills the function of making up for snow days in January and February. Because instructors are paid during spring break anyway, school districts do not incur expenses by adding extra days to the school calendar at the end-of-term.[citation needed] I WILL EAT YOUR FACE OFF!!!
Spring Break festivals
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014) |
Large annual spring break festivals take place in various countries, often in the form of music festivals and joined by special nightclub parties, beach activities and accommodation offers. This is an incomplete list of places with spring break festivals.
Europe
European party destinations are increasingly becoming popular for international spring break guests.[2] Tour agencies have cited the lower drinking ages in these places and that even then, they are rarely enforced. Some tour companies put on special chartered flights for spring break at discounted rates.
Bulgaria
Croatia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Spain
North America
Caribbean
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Cuba (Varadero)
- Dominican Republic (Punta Cana)
- Jamaica (Kingston, Negril)
- Puerto Rico
- Turks and Caicos Islands
Mexico
United States
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Lake Havasu City, Arizona has been a popular spring break destination for the last two decades.[citation needed] Growing in popularity, Approximately 150,000 college students travel to the city every year during spring break.[citation needed]
Daytona Beach, Florida
As Ft. Lauderdale enacted more restrictive laws to discourage college students from visiting during spring break, party goers responded by moving to the more permissive community of Daytona Beach. Over 350,000 students traveled there each spring at its peak during the 1980s. But, following the same pattern as Ft. Lauderdale earlier in the decade, Daytona Beach's local government undertook similarly restrictive measures and the crowds of the late-1990s and early 2000s had fallen to a point where "a few students still come, but officials don't even estimate their numbers".[citation needed]
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
From the end of World War II until the mid-1980s, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was a notorious spring break destination in the United States for college students.[citation needed] Fort Lauderdale's reputation as a spring break destination for college students started when the Colgate University men's swim team arrived to practice there over Christmas break in 1934.[6] Attracting approximately 20,000 college students in the 1950s, spring break was still known as 'spring vacation' and was a relatively low key affair. This began to change when Glendon Swarthout’s novel, ‘Where the Boys Are’ was published in 1958, effectively ushering in modern spring break.[7] Swarthout’s 1958 novel was quickly made into a movie of the same title in 1960 Where the Boys Are, in which college girls met boys while on spring break there. The number of visiting college students immediately jumped to over 50,000. By the early 1980s, Ft. Lauderdale was attracting between 250,000-350,000 college students per year during spring break. Residents of the Fort Lauderdale area became so upset at the damage done by college students that the local government passed laws restricting parties in 1985. At the same time, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was enacted in the United States, requiring that Florida raise the minimum drinking age to 21 and inspiring many underage college vacationers to travel to other locations in the United States for spring break. By 1989, the number of college students traveling to Fort Lauderdale fell to 20,000, a far cry from the 350,000 who went four years prior.[8]
Panama City Beach, Florida
Panama City Beach, Florida became the spring break mecca in the early 1990s after Ft. Lauderdale and Daytona Beach enacted restrictive measures in order to discourage college students from visiting during spring break.[citation needed] The tiny city remains a popular spring break destination in the country, due to its relative proximity to many Southern colleges, driving distances, and permissive behavior toward spring breakers.[citation needed] The locals in Panama City Beach welcome over 200,000 Spring Breakers every year, and Spring Break is a major factor in the city's economy.[citation needed]
South Padre Island, Texas
South Padre Island, Texas is also a popular Spring Break destination among students from colleges in the south-central and mid-western parts of the country.[citation needed] In the early 1980s, South Padre Island became the first location outside of Florida to draw a large number of college students for spring break. With only a few thousand residents, South Padre Island has consistently drawn between 80,000 and 120,000 spring breakers for the last 30 years.[9]
Corporate marketing
It is common for major brands that cater to the youth market (e.g., Coca-Cola, Gillette, MTV, and branches of the United States armed forces) to market at spring break destinations.[clarification needed]
Alternatives
Some colleges[which?] offer "alternative spring breaks", in which students volunteer community service and charity work during spring break. Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge program is one example of this.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ studenten-wg.de - About semester breaks in Germany (German)
- ^ Kressmann, Jeremy (10 February 2009). "Budget Travel: European Spring Break". Retrieved 23 June 2014.
- ^ Sputnik Springbreak Festival in Pouch, Germany
- ^ Annual Baltic Spring Break, Usedom Island, Germany
- ^ Firstpost video of Mykonos spring break
- ^ Marsh, Bill. "The Innocent Birth of the Spring Bacchanal". The New York Times, March 19, 2006.
- ^ Laurie, John (2008). Spring Break: The Economic, Socio-Cultural and Public Governance Effects of College Students on Spring Break Host Locations. ProQuest. p. 12. ISBN 9781109023091.
- ^ Bohn, Lauren (30 March 2009). "A Brief History of Spring Break". Time U.S. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
- ^ Laurie, John (2008). Spring Break: The Economic, Socio-Cultural and Public Governance Impacts of College Students of Spring Break Host Locations. ProQuest. p. 66. ISBN 9781109023091.
External links
Media related to Spring break at Wikimedia Commons