I always hate cancelling classes. There's never enough time in the semester for all that we ought to do. That being said, the U of OK is forcing my hand a bit this year. In commemoration of the theft of the state from those to whom it had been deeded by treaty, school is cancelled the Friday before Thanksgiving for a Centennial "Celebration." We're normally out after Tuesday, and I teach MWF. I just couldn't see my way to make them come back for one class. Being tricksy by nature, I therefore came up with online work towards their paper that's due that week. They don't have to be there physically, but they still have to do work for the course, and they still have to turn in a major essay that week.

I normally cancel class if I'm teaching the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, simply because many students live out of state (or at least in other parts of Texas), and they want to get home before Thursday. That seems reasonable to me.

I don't tell them right away that I'm canceling it, though, because I like to wait and see if we'll need the day to work. I like to get an idea of the pace of the class and the reading/writing skill level of the students before I decide to skip a day we may need. (But I've never once decided not to cancel class.)

I don't think I'd cancel Monday, though, personally. That seems excessive to me because that has nothing to do with the holiday or travel plans, really. I definitely wouldn't cancel a class I had not secretly already planned to cancel, anyway. Even though college students are paying for their courses and are kind of cheated by canceled classes, most of them don't see it that way. I'm sure most of them would be delighted if I canceled every single day. But just because they don't want to come to class doesn't mean you have to cancel it.

I think canceling Wednesday is reasonable, though, and I always do it. That way, the students don't have any difficult decision to make. It seems odd, but some students would come to class anyway, trying to do the right thing, even if it complicated all of their travel plans. It's only one class, but a lot of first-semester freshmen still have a high school mindset when it comes to things like that, and they're afraid missing class when I know they're not sick will make me think they don't care about the class.

I would never cancel class due to student badgering. Goodness knows what else they would ask you for down the road.

However, I am of the firm belief that we need a fall break before Thanksgiving during the fall semester. I think it's good for morale to have an extra canceled class on a Monday or Friday at some point in October / early November.

Also, I can't really blame the students for wanting a longer Thanksgiving break, especially if they are flying home. Tickets at Thanksgiving time are insane. I'm actually flying on the Friday before Thanksgiving and the Friday after Thanksgiving this year. (But the students, unfairly, are still having class on Monday, while I will be on vacation.)

Ultimately, the students are allowed a few absences, and if it's really a priority for them to do something else, they can work it out themselves. That's what many of us do as students in our graduate classes, after all.