I believe in a disease known as Senioritis. Senioritis takes over all seniors in high school after the Christmas holidays and usually ends around the time of graduation. The cause is presumed to be the need to get out of high school and move on with life by going to college. The cure is a diploma.

Some seniors try to escape the disease, but only with failed efforts. Teachers assigning massive amounts of work worsen the effects. A few students go home from school and try to write their essays, but only to find out that once their hands go to touch the keyboard, their fingers cannot move! They sit there and wiggle their fingers but are unable to type any letters to make words for their very important paper. Senioritis does not just affect papers; it causes all homework assignments to slowly decrease in quality and quantity. Students pick and choose which assignments are most important. The rest are either never completed or just done sloppy in the last minute rush to finish the homework.

The procrastination is not always on purpose. Students, like myself, go home and try to write their papers ahead of time, but sometimes it just does not work out as planned. Many times I go home and start on a paper a week ahead of time. I do not write the whole paper then and there, why would I if I have a whole week to write it? Then before I know realized what is happening, it is late the night before the paper is due and I still need to finish writing the paper.

Senioritis makes studying for finals harder than usual. Students think, “Why should I study when I am already accepted into college?” In reality, the final grades are important and still sent to colleges, which all seniors really do know. The effects of the disease can only be relieved from the understanding that one must still do one’s work to pass, but also knowing that the graduation ceremony is just around the corner.