Drew Thorburn ’18

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“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”                                  -Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.

Have you ever stopped to wonder what underclassmen do when they are not at Strake? Have you ever considered how their daily lives compare to your own? Taking a glance at the familiar faces of your 9th and 10th grade peers, could you guess what 90% of everyone has in common in their daily lives? If you guessed procrastination, congratulations, you are probably one of the millions of teens suffering from it.

I surveyed ten random freshmen and sophomores in hopes of drafting an analysis of extreme differences amongst our student population. To my surprise, I found most underclassmen undergo a very similar ritualistic routine everyday after school. How does this schedule compare to your own? Most students were involved in different types of extra curricular activities, meaning they arrived home at around 6:00. Once they get home most grab a snack, shower, and mess around on some sort of electronic device for one to two hours. At around 8:00 to 8:30 they start homework or eat dinner; however, pretty much everyone has started working by 9:00. Depending on the type of classes the student’s are enrolled in, homework takes anywhere between one to three hours. Once homework has been completed most students carve out another thirty minutes to an hour of electronics time, putting most in bed between the hours of 10:30 and midnight.

The research blew my mind! I didn’t expect that so many underclassmen had such similar schedules that all involved procrastinating homework until the very end of the night. In an effort to see if students felt their procrastination was justified, the final question on the survey read, “If you were to change your schedule, what would you do differently?” Ironically, I received an almost unanimous response from all different types of underclassmen saying they needed to start homework earlier and get more sleep. Not only do such a large number of students have very similar daily routines, but apparently they also all hate the same thing about it!

If you struggle with procrastination, know you are not alone. On top of your fellow brothers at Strake, according to a survey conducted by the Huffington Post, 87% of students actively procrastinate even though 45% admitted to knowing they are negatively impacting their grades. My interview purposely focused on underclassmen from all walks of life that had completely different interests. An article originally intended to compare the vast differences amongst these underclassmen at Strake, revealed to me that we are all much more similar than you may think. The next time you pass someone walking the campus, remember, chances are you two have more in common than you may believe.

 

Klein, Rebecca. “Here’s What Procrastinators Are Doing Instead Of Schoolwork.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 May 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.     Stanhope, Philip. “Procrastination Quotes.” BrainyQuote. Xplore, 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2016