Jan. 20 marked an exciting milestone for Lexington High School students: the start of the second semester, and more importantly, the halfway point of the 2025-26 school year. It also marks the end of quarter two – popularly seen as one of the most intense portions of the school year.
A distinct hallmark of quarter two is that its final two weeks occur after winter break. Similar to all other quarters, the last few weeks are extremely important to students. Last-minute tests or projects can change a grade ever so slightly. Thus, students must stay in the right mindset for this final stretch.
However, the week-and-a-half break that splits quarter two can interfere with students’ focus. For example, it becomes extremely easy for students to forget the material they learned before the break.
LHS sophomore Avishi Shetty noted that it was difficult for her to remember class material after the almost two-week gap.
“It was hard to finish the quarter strong after coming back because I forgot a lot of stuff,” Shetty said.
Normally, teachers assign many final exams and projects towards the end of a semester. Yet it is unreasonable for teachers to assign heavy workloads, as many students travel or spend time with their families over break, leaving them little time to complete their work once they come back to school.
“I was busy celebrating Christmas with my family over break, so I didn’t do a lot of work,” Penny Davy, a sophomore at LHS, said.
On top of familial responsibilities, many students have extracurricular activities that prevent them from fully committing to schoolwork.
“I spent a lot of time doing preparatory work for debate, and thus school work wasn’t at the top of my priority list,” Lily Xia, a sophomore at LHS, said.
Ending the quarter before winter break could be a solution that allows students to feel more relaxed for their break. However, there are drawbacks to ending early. For example, since January marks the point at which semester one and two are evenly split, first-semester classes would be cut short. But the school could avoid this drawback by editing the current quarter schedule and implementing a system similar to the Lexington middle schools: a trimester system. Instead of four quarters, three trimesters would allow breaks to be more evenly distributed, and there would be no school breaks between shifts in the school year. Interviewed students such as Penny Davy and Avishi Shetty have affirmed this suggestion.
“I think we should go back to trimesters. It would make everything a lot easier,” Shetty said.
However, other interviewed students expressed disapproval of a trimester system.
“I don’t like trimesters. I just think three is not as good as four because four is even,” Xia said. “Quarters are quite nice, and they are an easier way to split up the year.”
LHS could also start school two weeks earlier and end school two weeks earlier to shift quarter two. Most of the interviewed students have expressed approval for an earlier summer break.
“I wouldn’t want to have a longer quarter three and quarter four if quarter two was shorter. I just want an earlier summer,” Davy said.
The two-week winter break from school, which occurs at the most crucial point of quarter 2, can be detrimental to grades. Furthermore, the drawbacks from ending quarter 2 early have realistic solutions, so there is no reason for quarter 2 to last until January. Overall, LHS should definitely re-review the current quarter system. Students work extremely hard from early November to late December, so setting students up for a harsh readjustment after the ten-day lapse only adds stress.