By Thompson Perry
As the calendar draws closer to May, there is a growing feeling of restlessness and discontent among college campuses across the country.
With seniors preparing to graduate in the spring, the soon-to-be-liberated students are beginning to relax as the finish line comes into sight.
These students are exhibiting symptoms attributed to senioritis, such as; instructors begin to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher, students wonder if it is worth pressing the snooze button, or worse they start imagining professors have hand puppets like Mr. Hat from “South Park.”
Senioritis is a fictitious illness that afflicts otherwise dedicated college students in the months before graduation.
Most professors at the University of Louisville seem to accept the theory that senioritis is a mere coping strategy for students who find themselves in a proverbial no-mans-land.
They have made plans for the next stage of life, yet cannot begin that stage until they have completed the current one.
Chris Prentice is one of many students populating U of L that has fallen prey to senioritis and the complacency it entails.
“I guess I’ve got it pretty bad,” he said after a little prodding. “After four years at U of L, I’m ready to branch out into the real world and see what I’m made of, what I can achieve, and what I can become. I’m eager to get out [of school], find a job, and really explore the world beyond textbooks and lecture halls. Those things have taken me as far as they can and they just aren’t very important to me anymore.”
Though not all students “infected” may be as candid and unapologetically apathetic.
Prentice seems to have the popular sentiment: now that a plan has been formed for the next chapter of a student’s life, the ending of the previous chapter seems immaterial.
Some seniors are so convinced they know what is coming next in life, and where they will be when it does, that it doesn’t really matter how they get there.
“You definitely see a decline in the willingness to participate in class from seniors,” said Kenneth Smalley, a sophomore history major. “At the beginning of the year, all my senior friends and I would hang out, go to lunch after class. Now they’re never on campus because they’ve set such low standards for themselves this semester. They’ve convinced themselves that all they have to do is pass their remaining courses, and it makes no difference at all whether they do that with As or Ds.”
Whether it’s neglecting homework, stumbling through term papers, or simply not attending class, are the students just hurting themselves?
“When a student gets to the point of ‘senioritis,’ all he really does is taint his own work ethic,” said Steve Perry, Doctor of Education and U of L graduate.
“If you cut corners over the last semester in school, you teach yourself that it’s acceptable to give less than your maximum effort to something. If you accept that [idea], you set yourself up for a life full of tribulation and strife because you aren’t willing to go the extra mile for success,” said Perry.
Though a lecture is the last thing that seniors want to hear on the cusp of their graduation, it is certainly a noteworthy perspective that laziness and apathy can only breed more of the same.
It can be difficult for anyone to argue with the idea that seniors need a break after four years of intense academic rigors, some take issue with the seniors that begin that break prematurely.
“You’ve worked hard; you’ve come a long way,” said a former, now retired professor. “But wait until May. You’ve made it this far; why not finish on a high note?”
