After three long weeks of procrastination, I finally bring myself to write this piece. Although it may seem easy to just avoid doing work and assignments, it is impossible almost. For this very article, I assigned myself a due date of October 14, and then pushed it back to October 18.
It is now October 23 and barely the start of my writing process. I figured if I am able to place myself in the mindset of my fellow students who do this regularly, I may change my position on this issue. What I found in this “procrastination experiment” was the process in which students avoid their issues.
All of this started when in my 6th period Independent Study Journalism class, the group had a discussion about curiosities that we faced day to day. Many of the students had talked about how their failures were the fault of their teachers and had nothing to do with what type of students they were. This raised the question of what is in our control and out of our control as students?
Many students, including myself, take rigorous courses that fill our bag’s with loads of work, assignments and textbooks. From my core AP/DC classes to my journalism and AVID electives, I catch zero breaks from work. Although I may not have a job like most students, I have home responsibilities like taking care of my sisters’ dog and chores around the house. So many students face the same problem of being bombarded with assignments and having little to no time to work on it. The difference is that I don’t blame a low to failing grade on my teacher or on outside anomalies.
I have been wondering for a while why students blame their teachers more than themselves?
Where is the line between teachers’ and students’ fault?
When do students begin taking responsibility?
A big part of the problem is that students feel that teachers should care about their grades as much as they do. Teachers give you assignments and grade what you turn in, its as simple as that. The first step to taking responsibility is to accept the fact that grades are completely in your control. You can change the lack of understanding of the material by going to tutoring and studying more often. Once we get in the mindset of ourselves having control of our grades, then we will slowly progress in the right direction.
With a healthier mindset, we can create a schedule that works in our favor all around, whether it means staying after school certain days and grinding through all the work, or having a daily schedule where you tackle assignments little by little.
Whether you are a gamer, have work, or have other outside responsibilities, we can create a schedule fit for us. Find a good balance between general fun and school. No one wants to attend school for seven hours, then come home and have three to four more hours of school. If you enjoy video games, then for every hour of work/study, spend an hour on games. This way, we do not hate our life or feel like we are controlled by school.
Personally, I felt as if my life was being consumed by video games, at school and at home, which was a major problem. I would go to school and play mobile games, miss the whole lecture by the teacher, and be baffled by the pile of work I took home. Then, when I got home, I would leave my bag in the living room and not pick it up till the morning on the way back to school. My backpack had become more of an accessory and less useful by the day. By the time I got home, I was ready to hop on to Xbox Live and play for hours on end. Eventually, the closing of the six weeks came around and I realized that to maintain a decent GPA, I had to correct myself. I made a fairly large fix by deleting the mobile games and unplugging the Xbox. This allowed me to focus on priorities. I’m not implying everyone should change their whole routine, but maybe minor tweaks here and there will help make progress.
After improving work habits and routine, before you know it, you won’t have the salt and pepper look or stress. Although stress can be healthy, overwhelming yourself at the end of every grading period is not a recommendation. As students, we can take back control of not only our actions, but also our life. We should no longer depend on our teachers to give extra credit. We have to hold ourselves accountable.