Talk:Spring break/Archives/2014

Origins

How did spring break get started? Is it like summer vacation where it is related to agriculture? Kent Wang 10:49, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Answer: I learned this weekend that "March Break" in Ontario originated in the early days with the maple sap run. Since much of Ontario was rural, many of the children stayed home this week to help out with the maple syrup process. The classrooms were empty, so the teachers just called it a holiday. I have not idea if this is true, but perhaps someone could research it, and confirm. 70.49.7.21 (talk) 22:24, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Kinda like "autumn break" in Norway then? One week off in august/september, originated in the early days with the potato season. Also a week with no kids in school since the whole family needed to help out harvesting. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.75.51.37 (talk) 13:21, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

Get specific

The history here, with regards to Spring Break partying being nearly outlawed in Fort Lauderdale, could really use some specifics. Without nailing down the actual years this ifnromation will soon be useless. —[[User:Radman1|RaD Man (talk)]] 05:57, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Done. Mike H. That's hot 04:28, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Spring Break an American phenomenon?

I was wondering... while European universities seem to have a similar holiday period (February to March in Germany where it marks the end of the winter semester of the previous year and the beginning of the summer semester, for example), the "SPRING BREAK!!!" phenomenon as seen on tv seems to be almost exclusively American, or at least I haven't heard about any similar incidents in Europe or elsewhere.

If so, the article should point this out more clearly. -- Ashmodai 13:52, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Where in European schools they "hit the books" to catch up, American schools "hit the kegs" to get down. I can tell you in Canada (or my University at least) I don't have a March Break of any kind.

-G

March Break in Canada only applies to public elementary and secondary schools. CuffX 03:52, 26 Febuary 2007 (UTC)

it may be because of the drinking age: European Students can get drunk whenever they want :-)

The article implies that this is an American thing. It is an American phenomenon to the extent to which young people debauch themselves in public. But in terms of definition, isn't it more accurate to say that "Spring Break" is an American term for a school or university break occuring in spring. Simple really. Companies like Breakaway Tours (www.breakawaytours.com) travel thousands of Canadian university students in the begining in the month February and overlaping with most US college Spring Breakers in March. --Stellanat (talk) 18:48, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

There is a some what similar tradition of "Schoolies week" in Australia -- 20:21, 1 June 2009

I agree - I live in the UK and to try to include the UK in this article isn't helpful. I think this article should be about Spring Break as a cultural phenomenon, rather than as a calendar period. Nobody in the UK would associate the Easter Holidays with Spring Break. Jpmaytum (talk) 11:29, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Daytona

Why is some editor insisting on saying that Daytona is no longer a popular spring break destination? I actually had to check Daytona's Spring Break website, which still says they're definitely in business. I'm going to edit this next week to state that (internet is being cut off soon). Mike H. That's hot 07:28, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Panama City Beach, Florida: Is by far the biggest Spring Break destination in the world. Spring Break starts in February with Canadian Spring Break and goes all the way to mid April as the high school students start to break. For more info refer to http:/www.pcbeachspringbreak.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.130.179.100 (talk) 23:34, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

New Sections Necessary, Cleanup Issues

I was thinking that it could use some cleanup, with a section to cover the early decades, a separate one to describe the various surges in popularity, and then maybe a last one to cover the last few decades and major changes. Other organizational ideas are welcome, of course. Also, the part that describes popular break locations in Mexico is rather messy. Since all of those cities are in the same nation, the sentence could and should be restructured to reference Mexico once, then itemize destinations there. I'm just too lazy and tired to do it now. Ipso-De-Facto 11:04, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Extraneous/Superflous Factoids?

I'm also wondering why the blurb about the Japanese version of spring break is in there? What is the scope of this article supposed to include? If there isn't enough separate info to warrant different articles between the American "party" spring break, as semi-traditionally practised by US college students, and spring break as observed in other countries, there should at least be separation and additional international info besides just for Japan.

No offense, but this reads like a hastily written newspaper headliner, with all sorts of semi-relevent stuff jammed in, and jumps around like the dickens.

And yes, I did just NPOV myself...I'm a dork. Don't question this. Ipso-De-Facto 11:42, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Contradiction

This article appears to contradict itself. It says that Spring Break for K-12 is usually the second or third week in March and that it coincides with Passover/Easter. Easter can be no earlier than March 23rd so in general these won't coincide. Can someone please clarify which is correct? Stifle (talk) 19:01, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

As I recall, from 8th - 12 grades, my spring break was always the 3rd week in March and my University's Spring Break was always the 2nd week in March; that was over a decade ago. All the public local K-12 schools here had their spring breaks the 3rd or 4th week in March depending upon district. Jon 15:33, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

I've had a go at fixing the contradictions; the main problem was that someone mixed back in the Easter-Passover note about Spring Break immedately following a sentence about March Break. Jon 15:49, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Peak Spring Break weeks for US college students in 2009 were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd weeks in March. US college spring break periods started as early as mid February and as late as Early April Stellanat (talk) 18:51, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Spring break and Easter?

A British friend of mind told me that he heard (from some American friends) that Spring Break 'replaced Easter vacation as a politically correct alternative'. Now I've lived here (Detroit) my entire life, and I've NEVER heard this, but I figured I'd put it out there and see if anyone else has heard anything about this. (I always thought that the two were more-or-less coincidental, with Spring Break being fixed in the year with regards to the individual schools and districts, while Easter 'floats' around from late March to late April depending on year). PolarisSLBM 11:05, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I have heard that some public K-12 schools that traditionaly had an Easter vacation renamed their vacation Spring Break in response to threat of lawsuits but kept it floating, but I don't have first, second, or even third hand direct knowelge of this. Jon 15:53, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Cut Senior Week

"A similar type of vacation is known as senior week in the United States. Senior week follows high school or college graduation, where graduating seniors will go on a similar week-long vacation to a beach location. It is a tradition for students graduating from Yale University to travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina." Follwing High school or college graduation would place this mostly in May; but sometimes in June for the US, so doesn't belong in the spring break article about a break aprox in the middle of the Spring semister. Jon 15:38, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't know if there's enough facts about this. Yes, I most certainly did partake in "senior week" (also known as "first week" in SC) at the end of my junior and senior years of high school, and I did go to Myrtle Beach, but the event itself I don't think is as large as "spring break" - and I've heard from other places they do this, but it seems that Myrtle Beach is the most centralized location. I met people from Minnesota, New York, etc. all there. The only reason I would object to anything beind added is because I love partying there, and that's definitely POV, hah. Zchris87v 07:31, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Ft. Lauderdale

This article seems to be expressly about Fort Lauderdale...no mention of Cancun at all. Any reasons for that? Benjamin 00:32, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

I guess you guys don't notice the obvious POV in the Common Practices section, the lines about the degradation of women. Perhaps it can be stated intelligently instead of in a biased view. - Krang

Senior week or Grad Week as it is also known as is not just in Myrtle Beach. Panama City Beach has a very large concentration of students that attend this event from the middle of May to the middle of June each year. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.130.179.100 (talk) 23:37, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Newer Locations

This article needs to be updated to include current US destinations such as Panama City Beach, FL; Daytona Beach, FL; South Padre, TX; and Lake Havasu, AZ. These are current spring break locations that actively seek and market to spring breakers, unlike Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. -kbrackins 2/6/08

So... what exactly is Spring Break?

I came to this article from the Fort Lauderdale article, hoping to find something to explain this phenomenon of US culture, but - echoing previous comments - I feel I've learned nothing. It would be nice to find out:

• when & where Spring Break began (did it begin in a particular state, or from a specific type of university/college)?
• how widespread is it - in terms of colleges adopting a spring break or students taking it up
• any criticisms of the Spring Break? (apart from towns which have suffered from the fallout of massive underage drinking, etc)
• what else do students do? I'm assuming they can't all afford to jet off to the Caribbean for a week.
• media portrayals - accurate or no? Good/bad stereotypes?

Niki2006 (talk) 19:27, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

To answer your question:

• 1. Think of Mardi Gras and all the debauchery that it entails, then throw in a beach. Mix well. Warning: May border on pornographic.
• 2. When it started, it was in many places along the coastline, with one spot in Arizona. Im guessing by this article that Las Vegas is on the rise.
• 3. You're right, they can't all jet off to the Carribean, but they can drive within the US, and frequently do, even a thousand miles or so.
• 4. Underaged drinking was the primary complaint, plus lewd behavior in some cases (see "Girls Gone Wild" for examples).
• 5. The primary reputation itself is both good and bad, depending on your point-of-view. In most cases, it's a chance to get away from the drudgery of school and cut loose...er...lose some of your inhibitions. This, of course, has a down side.

In the end, it's up to each individual to determine what Spring Break means to them.Rapierman (talk) 22:33, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Spring Break in Canada

The article says that in Alberta, spring break is commonly toward the end of March. This seems odd, since in all my years of schooling in Alberta, it's always been at the end of February because of Family Day and Teachers' Convention. We call it Family Week or Reading Week. (When I went to Acadia University in Nova Scotia a couple years ago, Reading Week was the same week as it is in Alberta, but I don't know if this is true for all of Canada or just a coincidence.) So unless someone can show me that I am wrong and that my city was just a weird anomaly among the rest of Alberta, I'm going to change the article to say end of February for Alberta... Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 05:16, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Oops, upon re-reading it does say that Canadian universities are usually at the end of February, so it's just the Alberta K-12 that seems wrong to me. Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 05:18, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

The Canadian section doesn't make sense: 1) Spring break is for elementary and secondary school kids (and they don't go to Florida and get drunk) 2) Reading Week is for universities and colleges and is usually in February (in BC this year it's is either this week or next week depending on the institution) 3) There's stuff about the UK in the Cdn section — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.183.59.95 (talk) 21:27, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

Terminology

From an American standpoint, is Mexico (or Caribbean islands) considered "overseas"?67.117.145.91 (talk) 05:47, 10 April 2013 (UTC)