As the final days of the quarter come to a close you may notice the sloping shoulders, puffy eyes, and tears of stress on your fellow classmates. Sights of late night studying are not unusual when report cards are upon us. Cry Me a River? Procrastination takes the Place of Motivation for All
by Katie Kalina & Kim Olechoski
With the end of a quarter comes the inevitable "must have" final grades. And when time is running out, teachers tend to make points count. While the middle of the quarter may pass with a few minuscule quizzes and possibly a test or two, when the end approaches the tests become worth more points than usual. Teachers seem to disregard the qualities of time management and careful, thought out lesson planning.
We realize that substantial grades at the end are important and can be, more than likely, beneficial for a student. But, when a single student has a major project to present on Monday, a math quiz on Tuesday, an epic poem to read by Wednesday, and tests in physics, faith, and math on Friday, it becomes a bit much.
We can recall countless classes where teachers have said, and we quote, "We need this test because we don't have enough grades in the grade book." Teachers will remain anonymous, but you know who they are! When you study six different subjects in one night, take your brisk jog at track practice, eat dinner, and still try to squeeze in a couple hours of much needed beauty rest, what do you truly learn? Maybe, a little time-management ... like how much more time you have to study lit. until Dawson's comes on.
When we have a myriad of things to do, we become overwhelmed, and the tendency is to just give up. So while teachers may have enough points to consider our grades "complete" we end up not learning as much.
In the past when we have expressed these feelings of unbearable stress to their teachers, the comments we receive back are things like, "Just look at it as a lesson in time management," or "Why don't you cry me a river?" While these mocking comments may be funny to them, to us, it is the undeniable truth. Hey, I just might go home and cry you a river, some days you just donUt have a choice.
Maybe there are some of you out there who are thinking, "Why don't you just cry me a river and get over it." We are not trying to be whiney but all we ask is if teachers could have a little communication. We realize that in some classes we receive a syllabus at the beginning but it's funny how some tests don't appear on it until the last minute.
We are not saying that we are perfect either. There have been countless times where we have complained about our busy lives and have thrown things together at the last minute also.
But all we are saying , to teachers and students alike, is when you leave Marian, whether it's graduation or retirement, you are not going to remember how you got a C on one little test, or how you need an extra grade because you are running a little behind. It's okay, grades aren't everything. Just take a deep breath and keep the good time rollin' because that is what we will remember!
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