Uzo Ahn ’18
The Snow Day Calculator has recently become a US tradition, beginning every winter season.
Admit it. We’ve all been there, teachers and students alike. Whether the day before an anticipated snowstorm or even the day of, we find ourselves opening a new tab on our laptops to consult the notorious Snow Day Calculator. Making sure the screen’s brightness is at its lowest (privacy, am I right?), we proceed to enter the school’s zip code, select the proper type of school, and struggle to recount how many snow days we’ve had so far. In desperate hopes of a day off, we send our prayers to an apathetic computer-based software, predicting whatever chances it feels like predicting. Much to our disappointment, the conch predicts below a fifty percent chance of a snow day, which to most US students, means nothing. What’s the big deal?
The Snow Day Calculator has recently become a US tradition, beginning every winter season. While predicting the chances of a snow day for the next couple of days, it has picked up a mal-reputation for predicting far-off and inaccurate evaluations, promptly crushing the high hopes of many dawdling teenagers. However, despite its erroneous numbers, I, as well as the majority of the US students, have a tendency to become allured to the idea of a possible day off when chances reach high 90s. Pupils dilate, breaths are faster, and metabolism rates spike if the high chances continue to soar. Should this continue, some go to the extreme insofar as they leave any and all schoolwork to the side. It’s a stupid idea, and we students (should) understand – but to a degree, it’s actually pretty fun (only if the calculator was right).
None of the snow days this year (snow day*) were strongly called out by our oracle. But as the winter season of 2015/2016 comes to a wrap, it doesn’t stop us from marking our calendars for the next school year in anticipation for the next time we consult our friend: our very own, Snow Day Calculator.