Cure for Senioritis
Senioritis is a severe condition affecting high school seniors across the country. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “senioritis” is defined as, “an ebbing of motivation and effort by school seniors as evidenced by tardiness, absences, and lower grades.” If ‘an ebbing of motivation and effort’ doesn’t get you going, you might related more to the Urban Dictionary definition, “A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.” Sound familiar?
Although senioritis may not affect every single senior at Grace Church School, it appears to be quite prevalent. Those who take senior seminars may be the exception. According to Mr. Root and Dr. Nathan, seniors in their seminar classes do not appear plagued by this condition. Dr. Nathan reported that students in his second semester senior seminar are, “Engaged, hardworking and attentive.” For the rest of you who don’t take these senior seminars, listen up.
It is fair to say that senioritis is present almost everywhere, not just here at Grace Church School. So, what can we do about it? From speaking with both students and faculty members, I have a ideas.
Some teachers think that a second semester independent project would be a potential solution. This would allow students to really dive into their passions and learn more about a particular topic. Many teachers believe that second semester senior year would be the perfect time for a project like this.
However, others see this independent project as a way to, “Let seniors slack off.” Instead, they suggest that it could be a project that students complete on Wednesdays. In my interviews with several seniors they expressed, “Having nothing to do on Wednesdays.” Therefore, this solution might help the seniors make their Wednesdays more productive. Arguably, being engaged in school in one area could have a more positive impact in other areas.
One teacher said that a potential solution to make Wednesdays more productive would be to have seniors contribute to lab electives and March Madness projects with a faculty advisor. This would not only allow for a great cross-grade connection, but it would also allow students to do something meaningful with their time.
Another teacher, who teaches both Juniors and Seniors in class, mentioned that the biggest issue is the seniors not showing up to school, especially for first period classes. This makes it hard for classes with both juniors and seniors to be a cohesive learning environment when half of the class is, “Checked out.” Therefore, one teacher mentioned the possibility of having online courses that students could take. This would fix the previously divided learning environment and allow students to learn at their own pace.
One final solution for how to cure senioritis, suggested by a teacher, is to create consequences to encourage people to maintain their grades. The teacher mentioned some potential consequences for seniors who are skipping class or earning below a certain percentage in classes: getting detention, being forced to miss important senior week events, or even to go so far as not allowing students to participate in graduation.
Overall, there are many possible and plausible solutions to this issue. However, I do not think that solutions imposed by the school will necessarily fix the problem. Instead, it’s up to you to not fall victim to this plague that afflicts many high school seniors. You must find the motivation within yourself and realize that slacking off only hurts you. Therefore, it is up to you, and you alone, to make the most of your last semester in high school. You never know, you may miss it when you’re gone…