The Explanation fro Our Procratination

The Explanation for Our Procrastination
At the beginning of every college semester professors make an effort to prepare students for the upcoming work load. This effort is commonly known as a syllabus. Inside are typical things such as classroom rules, attendance policy, and standards concerning plagiarism. The most important piece of information inside a syllabus is the course calendar. The calendar is usually an accurate depiction of the upcoming assignments and tests. Many instructors even explain what will be covered in each individual class session. Professors give us, their pupils, the opportunity to know what assignments are coming, and this should allow us to manage for each class. If what I am saying is in fact true, then what is all the fuss about college students staying up all night studying, pulling all-nighters, and plagiarizing papers because they didn’t have time to write their own? If students know months ahead of time that an assignment is due, then why does it take us the whole night and morning before to finish it? The answer to this puzzling question is procrastination.
If college is the Holy-Land meant to lead students towards better jobs and a better life, then procrastination is the devil; put here to make us feel like they have it all under control. In reality, we don’t. Many of us suffer the stresses procrastination creates, but we do it year after year. Why do we do this? There has to be a method behind our madness. Luckily for us, there is. Our decision to wait till the last minute to do everything is created by a list of beliefs and feelings we have developed during our educational careers. Whether this list is acceptable to our parents or professors is beside the point. The fact of the matter is; this is why we procrastinate.
Typical college life is exemplified by fast pace living, deadline crunching, and the constant pursuit of thrill and excitement. The pursuit of thrill usually leads students to make poor decisions. For example, a student might go out partying instead of studying for an exam. Or they might be inclined to skip class because they were out all night. In most college situations excitement isn’t hard to find, but somehow the excitement we receive outside the classroom isn’t enough to satisfy our craving. Due to our desire to find a rush we also attempt to make our schoolwork exciting. We wait till the last minute to do things we have known we needed to do because we enjoy the thrill of the fast approaching deadline. When a student has a test in the morning, and they begin studying at 10 P.M. the night before; they will usually end up studying until the next morning. This method of studying is called cramming. Students attempt to cram four to five weeks of class into one night’s sitting. As we flip through our note pages and the test time approaches, our blood starts flowing and our adrenalin increases. We begin realizing how important it is that we do well on the test, and we become determined to make a good grade no matter how little sleep we get. We are basically walking zombies by test time. As soon as the test is placed in front of us, we start remembering the pages we have been staring out for the last eight hours. Some of us remember enough to make exceptional grades, while others only remember enough to barely pass. No matter which type of student it is, both feel like they have successfully conquered the test. This exhausting game of chicken that we play with our deadlines leaves students felling triumphant. This feeling is a key reason we decide to procrastinate.
Students also chose to procrastinate for a more obvious reason. In some instances, we just don’t want to do the work. It really is that simple. We receive assignments knowing that they are due a month from then, and we put them aside till the last minute. Many times we begin dreading the assignment before the professor has finished explaining it. Consequently, the desire to have nothing to do with it persuades us to avoid it. I know this doesn’t sound like a college-educated decision, but it is hard to make yourself want to do something if you lack the will-power. A better term to describe this form of procrastination would probably be “laziness”. No matter how dedicated we were as a high school student, many of us develop lazy tendencies once we are given the freedom to manage our time ourselves. Similar to students waiting till the last moment because of the excitement it brings, being lazy is also a conscious choice that students make. Therefore, one might assume students always procrastinate intentionally, but this is not necessarily the case.
Many college students, especially when they become juniors and seniors, start working while still attending school. In many cases this decision isn’t “optional”. When a parent decides it is time for you to start paying for your own things, there’s nothing you can do except get a job. The average college student has a part-time job where they work around twenty to twenty-five hours a week. This type of work schedule allows students to effectively balance school and work without one of the two suffering. The problem occurs when students are forced to work full-time jobs in order to make ends meet. When a student is working forty hours a week and going to school full time, they have no days off. In order to get forty hours, a student will have to work every weekend in addition to working three days a week. This tight schedule leaves them with only two free days in which they will most likely schedule their classes. Juggling work and school increases the potential to forget deadlines. Even when we feel like we have successfully completed all of our assignments, something always seems to pop up at the last minute. Although it is still the student’s responsibility to know when and where everything is due, the full-time student and employee deserves sympathy. Sure they do their work at the last minute, but in many cases the last minute is the only minute they had available.
Since the beginning of mankind, procrastination has existed. I’m sure there was a cave man watching the sun go down, thinking about how essential it was that he got his fire started before nightfall. Right before the sun disappeared behind the horizon; he would quickly hop up and begin rubbing his two sticks together. Although he had all evening to start making his fire, he waited till the last minute to get it done. The most important thing to consider about the cave man is the face that he did get it done. We all procrastinate at times; even though we know we are going to be stressed out as an end result. But we do it anyways! It is a very irresponsible way to handle our business, but procrastination is a way of life. It is not uncommon to run into a student in the library who defines himself or herself as a prototypical “procrastinator”. It may seem like students are sitting around waiting till the last minute to do assignments, but there is a method behind the madness. We all have our reasons for procrastinating.