I Have a Disease...

I have a disease. It started out only as a minor case, with a late assignment here, a mediocre test there. I struggled with European history in the beginning, but got my act together and managed to pull through by the end of the semester. I would put off a night or two of math homework, but made sure to make it up over the weekend. I would complete some of the required 9 Spanish diaries throughout the three cycles (there were nine entries due every 3 cycles) and save the rest to do the night before it was due. My condition has worsened, however, in the second semester, and now I find myself with nine nights of math homework to do the night before a test, nine Spanish diaries to do the day before they are due. My failure to do homework in math has translated into my test scores, as you can imagine. I read only one and a half of the five assigned chapters of the AP Biology reading. My stomach has a funny, unsettled feeling and my head is constantly swirling. I have what they call senioritis.

Senioritis…senior slump…these are a few terms that I've become accustomed to hearing recently as I head into the last quarter of my senior year. I remember last year around this time hearing the seniors talking about how they were so lazy and “over school” and how they rarely did any homework. They excused themselves for getting bad test scores because they were “second semester seniors”. I remember telling myself as a junior that I wouldn’t let myself be like those other seniors and that I wouldn’t let my grades slip. Using the fact that you’re a “second semester senior” is not excuse for you to not do your best in school. Learning is a constant process that doesn't stop when you hit the final stretch of your senior year. Well, turns out that it’s a lot easier said than done.

I don't know what it is about being second semester senior, but I guess your mind begins to drift away from your school work and, instead, toward spending more time with your friends and family and enjoying your last few months in high school. It sounds bad from an academic perspective, but looking at it from a social perspective, it's very reasonable. These are probably the last few months that we'll be together with our friends and other students as a class. Starting this fall, each student will begin a new segment in their life as we go to our respective colleges or whatever the next step in life entails. We won't be seeing each other for a while, and may never see each other again, ever. It's as if our priorities change from school first, play second, to play first, school second. ;)