Senioritis: High School and College

It 's 8:20 am; the late bell has rung signaling to all that students should be seated in class and ready to learn. Students can be seen slamming their lockers and sprinting to their next class with fear of a detention slip for being late. But lingering in the hallways is an imaginary disease embedded only in the senior class. The symptoms are well recognized by the faculty; tardiness, little to no work completed in class, turning in assignments late, and an overall lethargic attitude rapidly spread from student to student as the end of the school year nears. Unfortunately, the repercussions of their actions are not as innocent as some seniors like to believe. Senioritis has short-term as well as long-term damage on their academic attainment such as loss of college acceptance, difficulties with college level classes, lack of desire to further education and a continued apathetic attitude towards the end of any undertaking.
To understand why senioritis is so destructive to a senior 's future, it should first be identified. According to en.wikipedia.org, senioritis is defined as an imaginary syndrome attributed to students nearing the end of high school and college, whose symptoms include laziness, procrastination and apathy toward schoolwork. Towards the end of the senior year of high school, many seniors have already been accepted into colleges, have plans to study a certain area or will already have jobs lined up for them when they graduate high school. Many are so focused on the future that the present is no longer important to them. English class doesn 't hold value to a future car mechanic. Biology is irrelevant to the senior pursuing the dream of being an artist. They have a strong desire to free themselves from the educational system that has held them there for 12 years. Although they have grown as a person and a student, in the eyes of a senior, the monotonous details of their school day have remained unchanged. They arrive at school, get books out of their locker, the bell rings, they go to class, the teacher talks, they listen. At the end of the day, they put their books away; and go home only to study for tomorrow 's test and sleep. Students question why they should have to go to certain classes. They know that their grades are good enough and can still pass with a C regardless of their participation in the class (The Mysteries of Senioritis). Even the smartest of students will allow their grades suffer so that they can spend a few more minutes in the hallway with their friends. Unfortunately, senioritis has almost become a tradition, as some schools have an organized "Senior Skip Day". Regardless of how innocent some of this seems, senioritis can affect the rest of a teenager 's life in both the short and long-term future.
The short-term repercussions of senioritis are the most noted by colleges. For those seniors already accepted into colleges, senioritis may have the largest impact. Should their grades drop significantly throughout their senior year; many colleges reserve the right to drop their acceptance packet (Marklein). A last minute drop from college forces the student to either start looking for a new college or may cause them to lose motivation to attend any further schooling. The senior year is not a time to become complacent; it is a time to fine tune the skills needed for their successful transition to college. Michael Kirst, an education professor at Stanford University, points out, "If you are not well-prepared to succeed in college then the senior year is your last chance to be prepared." Those who allow senioritis to occupy their mindset may find themselves having more difficulty in college, as over half of all seniors are not college-ready upon graduation. "Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that in fall of 2000, 20 percent of entering freshmen at four-year public institutions took a remedial course, while 42 percent at community colleges did (Jayson)." Seniors that choose not to attend school at all may find themselves in trouble with their parents or the law. As with many teenagers, boredom (from not attending school or having a job) and peer pressure leads to careless and illicit conduct that causes them to act out in manners that are unbecoming of a young adult in our society (Senioritis).
Additionally, some students are nervous about attending college. Students who are not as confident in their futures as others, will experience a different type of senioritis. Instead of complacency there is a "fear factor" they are enduring (Mysteries). The senior year for a student holds certain significance; they are finally at the top of the food chain. If they attend college, they go back to being the freshman again. This group of students allows their fear to hold them back from progressing their education. The added anticipation and irritation associated with senioritis also creates a lack of desire for furthering their education, along with a fear of having to endure the same hardships as in the previous years. These short-term reactions of senioritis will eventually develop into much larger issues in the future. Unfortunately, the long-term effects of senioritis have a detrimental impact on the student 's educational accomplishments as well. Students that were accepted into college and allowed their grades to drop, if not denied admission, will be on a type of academic probation where they are required to maintain a higher GPA and meet regularly with college officials in order to remain in the college (Marklein). Not to mention that college level courses are a great deal more difficult than in high school. Now, a sub-par high school senior is required to hold a higher academic standard than their college peers. If a student is dropped for poor performance in the last year of high school it is possible that all opportunity for a greater education is lost. Since senioritis prevails in most high schools, if that behavior were to carry over into college it could have a grand impact on their success. Unlike many classes in high school, college courses do not have the down time built into their curriculum towards the end of a course. A transfer of senioritis to college would have a devastating effect on their grades, morale and desire to continue their education.
In conclusion, the seemingly harmless actions of seniors during their last year are anything but that. Students who do not take their senior year seriously will experience harsh consequences. In some cases, senioritis will be a minor set back for the student. They will have trouble in the beginning of college with their workload, and they will go through remedial training. For others, it could signify the end of all of their personal goals. For the student who skipped school and conducted illicit activities, it could mean that the next book they see will be in jail. For the prospective Duke student who let their grades drop due to complacency and now their acceptance is being revoked, it could mean the difference between sitting behind a computer and standing behind the cash register. "The nation faces a deeply troubling future, unless we transform the lost opportunity of the senior year into and integral part of the students ' preparation for life, citizenship, work and further education (qtd. in Lam)."

Works Cited
Jayson, Sharon. "With ‘Senioritis ' the diagnosis, the Search for a Cure is On." USA Today. 18 Apr 2005.
Lam, Julia. "Caught Between High School and College." The Mercury News. 1 Mar. 2005. 3 Jun. 2005
Marklein, Mary Beth "Admission Denied." USA Today. 30 Mar. 2000: D9.
"The Mysteries of Senioritis." Talk of the Nation. WFSS-FM. North Carolina. 27 Apr. 2005.
"Senioritis" Jostens Parent and Student Information: The Senior Year.

Cited: Jayson, Sharon. "With ‘Senioritis ' the diagnosis, the Search for a Cure is On." USA Today. 18 Apr 2005. Lam, Julia. "Caught Between High School and College." The Mercury News. 1 Mar. 2005. 3 Jun. 2005 Marklein, Mary Beth "Admission Denied." USA Today. 30 Mar. 2000: D9. "The Mysteries of Senioritis." Talk of the Nation. WFSS-FM. North Carolina. 27 Apr. 2005. "Senioritis" Jostens Parent and Student Information: The Senior Year.