Musings About Apathy
Ever since Crystal's musings on this subject, I've been finding myself thinking more about the role that apathy plays in the life of a college student. Basically, I've come to a very simple conclusion: college = apathy.
Talk to any of the professors, any of the students, and there will be at least one instance where they just didn't care what happened, and couldn't bring themselves to be interested in fulfilling their duties. Even the very best of students, the one who writes their paper 3 weeks ahead of the due date, and revises it twice before you've even started yours (the night or two before it's due) could tell you how apathetic and lazy they feel at times. Even the greatest prof will have a day where they have to extend the deadline for when they return your papers, because they just didn't feel up to grading last night, so now you'll get them back on Friday instead of Wednesday.
It's not related to age, so much - freshmen, upper-classmen, non-trads...we all face the same apathy. Certainly, a lot of the non-trads (and some of the upper-classmen) have more maturity to fight such apathy, but they still feel it. I'm not really sure that it's worse during winter, either - it's just as bad during spring, when you're ready to get out and play in the sunshine. Perhaps fall is the only time when students truly hit the books with a great passion, and even then it's only some of the students. By spring, we're freaking tired, man.
How many people actually pay complete attention to every lecture in an individual class? I'd guess none, or maybe 1-2% of the total student population. Everyone has days where they zone out, and just don't care. Today, for instance, I'm really tired, and I should be studying for Arabic; however, since my instructor's not been in the States, I'm tempted to skip and feign ignorance if he does indeed show back up ("oh, sorry, I thought class was cancelled until you contacted me to say that you were back"), and stay at home with blankets, knitting, and probably a bit of homework. I did at least pay attention in my Teaching Secondary Reading and Ancient Rome classes - the first one was a given, it was super easy; the second one, all I had to do was mindlessly take notes (quickly, but mindlessly for the most part - and drool at Dr. Gerish's YET ANOTHER new-to-class sweater). And for all of my whoring out of Mardi Gras, I begged off last night, and stayed at home and knit. Evidently they had a horrible time of it, and very few people showed up - but it wouldn't have done any better, had I been there, and I was far happier for staying at home and relaxing with Eric and Adam, Rome and BSG, hot chocolate and knitting. Being lazy, to a certain extent, is good, even healthy, although it can get out of control.
So what are good ways to curb this instinct, and continue doing well in class? The carrot and stick approach is my favorite: some days I will "punish" myself for my laziness and do mass quantities of homework, and some days I will reward myself by vegging out/with chocolate/knitting/Eric time/whatever. Okay, not whole days, but small instances within each day. It takes a lot more motivation, though, to get a project done than it does to actually do the project.
I'm thinking that in the next few days I'll start work on my 2 major projects for this semester: my Teaching Secondary Reading - Content Area Unit (French lesson plans for a unit's worth of material), and my Teaching English as a Second Language - Assessment of a Content Unit. Getting some cleaning done would also be nice, and of course I'll have other homework to do, too.
As for fun things, I'm having a girl's night out Friday or Saturday night, which will be great. I'll be watching Boston Legal sometime soon with Adam and Eric, which is hilarious. I've got so much knitting, it should be illegal - but it will keep me warm and inspired.
Speaking of knitting, I have a question for Crystal and Whitney: what would you guys want for your b-days? I could either knit something small, or get you guys something small. For both of you guys, I figured fingerless gloves might be a good idea, if you have to use your hands outside (Whitney especially, with that tree drawing). For Crys, I figured Norberta the dragon might amuse you. For Whitney, I found this hat that looks like a sock monkey. Or, if these ideas sound totally stupid, just let me know what I should get you instead.
As a freakish aside, C&W, I got your valentines today, and they made me laugh. How on earth did you figure out the postage timing correctly so that I'd get it today? Well done! ;-D
This cold weather sucks balls, so I'm currently working on a shit-ton of items to keep me warm: mittens with a slit to make them "convert" into fingerless gloves; a pair of wristwarmers; a hooded scarf; and after those, probably legwarmers for spring. Of course, in with this stuff I'll also be working on Eric's sweater (I still want to finish it before winter's over!), and other projects. I think my sweater shall have to wait, and be taken out in glory this fall. Next in line are that lace shawl, a summer tank top, and a cute bolero jacket - plus baby items. Shit, baby items...! (Finish Kale's hat, you lazy fuck!)
Sorry if I bored you with my apathy rant - I know it's nothing new, but I felt like musing about it. Now, it's off to find a blanket, and snuggle up with some hot chocolate, 'cause it's freaking cold.
Have a great day (and don't buy into the commercialized bullshit!),
Love, Lyssa
P.S. Oh yeah, I got a ton of new knitting stuff recently: some gorgeous new patterns, yarn samples, etc. - and some really awesome needles. They're circular needles made out of rosewood, and the packaging is written in German (they're called "Ubergang vergoldet"), and they have a picture of a panda holding knitting needles on the front! Clearly German and pandas are enough to make anything awesome. *o*
Talk to any of the professors, any of the students, and there will be at least one instance where they just didn't care what happened, and couldn't bring themselves to be interested in fulfilling their duties. Even the very best of students, the one who writes their paper 3 weeks ahead of the due date, and revises it twice before you've even started yours (the night or two before it's due) could tell you how apathetic and lazy they feel at times. Even the greatest prof will have a day where they have to extend the deadline for when they return your papers, because they just didn't feel up to grading last night, so now you'll get them back on Friday instead of Wednesday.
It's not related to age, so much - freshmen, upper-classmen, non-trads...we all face the same apathy. Certainly, a lot of the non-trads (and some of the upper-classmen) have more maturity to fight such apathy, but they still feel it. I'm not really sure that it's worse during winter, either - it's just as bad during spring, when you're ready to get out and play in the sunshine. Perhaps fall is the only time when students truly hit the books with a great passion, and even then it's only some of the students. By spring, we're freaking tired, man.
How many people actually pay complete attention to every lecture in an individual class? I'd guess none, or maybe 1-2% of the total student population. Everyone has days where they zone out, and just don't care. Today, for instance, I'm really tired, and I should be studying for Arabic; however, since my instructor's not been in the States, I'm tempted to skip and feign ignorance if he does indeed show back up ("oh, sorry, I thought class was cancelled until you contacted me to say that you were back"), and stay at home with blankets, knitting, and probably a bit of homework. I did at least pay attention in my Teaching Secondary Reading and Ancient Rome classes - the first one was a given, it was super easy; the second one, all I had to do was mindlessly take notes (quickly, but mindlessly for the most part - and drool at Dr. Gerish's YET ANOTHER new-to-class sweater). And for all of my whoring out of Mardi Gras, I begged off last night, and stayed at home and knit. Evidently they had a horrible time of it, and very few people showed up - but it wouldn't have done any better, had I been there, and I was far happier for staying at home and relaxing with Eric and Adam, Rome and BSG, hot chocolate and knitting. Being lazy, to a certain extent, is good, even healthy, although it can get out of control.
So what are good ways to curb this instinct, and continue doing well in class? The carrot and stick approach is my favorite: some days I will "punish" myself for my laziness and do mass quantities of homework, and some days I will reward myself by vegging out/with chocolate/knitting/Eric time/whatever. Okay, not whole days, but small instances within each day. It takes a lot more motivation, though, to get a project done than it does to actually do the project.
I'm thinking that in the next few days I'll start work on my 2 major projects for this semester: my Teaching Secondary Reading - Content Area Unit (French lesson plans for a unit's worth of material), and my Teaching English as a Second Language - Assessment of a Content Unit. Getting some cleaning done would also be nice, and of course I'll have other homework to do, too.
As for fun things, I'm having a girl's night out Friday or Saturday night, which will be great. I'll be watching Boston Legal sometime soon with Adam and Eric, which is hilarious. I've got so much knitting, it should be illegal - but it will keep me warm and inspired.
Speaking of knitting, I have a question for Crystal and Whitney: what would you guys want for your b-days? I could either knit something small, or get you guys something small. For both of you guys, I figured fingerless gloves might be a good idea, if you have to use your hands outside (Whitney especially, with that tree drawing). For Crys, I figured Norberta the dragon might amuse you. For Whitney, I found this hat that looks like a sock monkey. Or, if these ideas sound totally stupid, just let me know what I should get you instead.
As a freakish aside, C&W, I got your valentines today, and they made me laugh. How on earth did you figure out the postage timing correctly so that I'd get it today? Well done! ;-D
This cold weather sucks balls, so I'm currently working on a shit-ton of items to keep me warm: mittens with a slit to make them "convert" into fingerless gloves; a pair of wristwarmers; a hooded scarf; and after those, probably legwarmers for spring. Of course, in with this stuff I'll also be working on Eric's sweater (I still want to finish it before winter's over!), and other projects. I think my sweater shall have to wait, and be taken out in glory this fall. Next in line are that lace shawl, a summer tank top, and a cute bolero jacket - plus baby items. Shit, baby items...! (Finish Kale's hat, you lazy fuck!)
Sorry if I bored you with my apathy rant - I know it's nothing new, but I felt like musing about it. Now, it's off to find a blanket, and snuggle up with some hot chocolate, 'cause it's freaking cold.
Have a great day (and don't buy into the commercialized bullshit!),
Love, Lyssa
P.S. Oh yeah, I got a ton of new knitting stuff recently: some gorgeous new patterns, yarn samples, etc. - and some really awesome needles. They're circular needles made out of rosewood, and the packaging is written in German (they're called "Ubergang vergoldet"), and they have a picture of a panda holding knitting needles on the front! Clearly German and pandas are enough to make anything awesome. *o*