Senioritis, the Silent Grade Killer
It’s a highly contagious disease that affects a quarter of the high school population. Wikipedia kindly defines it as “decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their high school careers.” In other words, seniors get lazy.
A plethora of advice scares students from succumbing to the symptoms of senioritis. We are prompted to keep up a rigorous academic load, even threatened by our dreams of higher education. Numerous colleges, including CSU and UC schools, explicitly state that admission may be revoked if changes in the senior year course load should change. Counselors encourage students to take extra classes beyond high school graduation requirements. College Board reports that up to half of college students end up taking remedial courses because of inadequate preparation.
Even with full knowledge of this, I have a hard time fighting the symptoms. With City College on break, I am required to be at high school a minimum of three hours a day. After lunch, I have time to wander town for hours before returning home, with plenty of time to finish my homework. Simply being outside with the mere thought of opportunities I have yet to discover is more stimulating than sitting in a classroom. I can see how easily it is to succumb to interests other than education.
In the upcoming semester, I have devised a schedule worthy of college admission. It is full of City College-based curriculum and one AP course, and even better, I am only required to be on campus for three hours a day. It’s not even that I dislike learning, but rather the entire atmosphere of high school. High school seems to be a sort of daycare for teenagers, only focusing on academia, and using classes as structured activity. Options are limited, and involvement in any other activity is regulated depending on time constraints. Personal goals are pushed aside for the demands of strict academic requirements. I feel no guilt in my desire to do something more.
My decreased attention in high school life may not fit into the technical definition of senioritis quite yet. There are, of course, my unfortunate friends in Advanced Placement English, who are anxiously composing a ten-page essay due in three days-after they finish reading the novel, of course. Three weeks of advance notice? It was promptly ignored. With so much hope for the future, it’s difficult to concentrate on the present. Speaking of which, I ought to work on a few essays. Maybe I’ll get around to it:later.
