Spring break
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For an article concerning the euphemism for Easter break, see Spring Holiday.
Spring break, also less commonly known as March break in some parts of Canada, is a week-long recess from studying in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China and other countries.
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[edit] Time of the year
In the United States, spring break may range from the end of February to later days in April, but many schools are out for at least one of the weeks in March. Some schools call this "March break" when it is a middle week in March. Many K–12 institutions in the United States coincide their spring break with Easter and Passover.
In Canadian universities, it is known as reading week, or, "Slack week" and is in late February or early March.
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.
[edit] History
From the end of World War II until the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was a notorious spring break destination in the United States. On March 19, 2006, the New York Times reported that Fort Lauderdale's reputation as a spring break destination for college students started when the Colgate University men's swimming team went to practice there over break in 1935.[1] Fort Lauderdale became even more popular due to the 1960 film Where the Boys Are, in which college girls met boys while on spring break there.
[edit] Common practices
Spring break's notorieties include increased drinking and sexuality, including public nudity. Residents of the Fort Lauderdale area became so upset at the damage done by vacationers, that the local government passed laws restricting parties in 1985. By 1989, the number of college vacationers fell to 20,000, a far cry from the 350,000 who went to Fort Lauderdale four years prior.[2] Most recently in 2006 the Fort Lauderdale local government passed even more laws to prevent spring breakers from traveling there for Spring Break 2007 and many to come.
Spring break party goers responded by moving to the more liberal community of Daytona Beach area (over 200,000 students traveled there each spring at its peak), but after Daytona's local government undertook similar measures, the crowds of the mid-1990s and early 2000s had fallen to a point where "a few students still come, but officials don't even estimate their numbers."[3] Fort Lauderdale suffered a recession as a result of this, but the local hotel industry survived by catering to the retirement population. Panama City Beach, Florida remains a popular spring break destination due to its relatively close proximity to many Southern colleges and driving distances.
Differences in the legal drinking age, and attempts at combatting the behavior of the spring break crowd in various places in Florida, have also lured spring breakers to travel outside of the United States. Popular destinations outside the United States include Cancun, Mazatlan, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. Tour agencies have not only cited the lower drinking ages in these places, but also the fact that the drinking ages are poorly enforced.
[edit] References
fr:Spring break nl:Spring break ja:春休み sv:Spring break
