For Oxford students, the period of time between the gloom of Hilary Term and the sunshine (one fervently hopes) of Trinity Term is known as the Easter Vacation. The university itself is quite strict about the stipulation that this vacation not end and 0th Week begin until Easter Sunday has come and gone.
As a national holiday in the United States too, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that vacations at schools and universities on this side of the Atlantic follow a similar policy. But writing from home in Connecticut, I can assure you that it’s not the case. Most of my friends at university have had their ‘spring breaks’ already, during the weeks of early and mid-March. Some will get a few days off around Easter, but no more so than they would have over President’s Day Weekend in February or might at Memorial Day Weekend in May, if their classes are still in session.
But that last mention is a big ‘if’. With only a few exceptions, most American universities will have let out for the summer by mid-May. And this point is a mere blip in the disparate universe of scheduling in Britain versus in the United States. The differences begin with the pronunciation of the word itself, with a hard first syllable stateside in contrast to the softer elocution across the pond. They extend to the objects used for timetabling, commonly a calendar in America as opposed to a diary in Britain.
And they occur all year round. This is partly due to the fact that in the United States, public education is run by a patchwork of federal government oversight, state governments, and in some cases either counties or individual towns within each state. Each sets its own schedules, meaning that children in some parts of the country begin school at the grammar and secondary levels in early August and others follow suit until the last trickle in to start in mid-September. While Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring breaks of varying lengths are the norm, they can occur at varying times.
As a result, some will finish the school year in early May, and others not until late June. The only general rule is that school does not happen in July – either a finish or a start. I grew up in the northeastern part of the United States, where schools generally began at the beginning of September and let out in June. Universities in the area follow a slightly earlier pattern, from August to May. So at times, the Oxford term schedule can be disconcerting. When I return to England in late April, it will be only a week or two before many friends from home come back for their summer vacations.
In order not to make any mistakes in my own scheduling, I’m constantly aware of the vagaries of differentiation. Whether marked on my calendar or penned into my diary, it’s all part of being an Oxford student and speaker of the American tongue.
