As baseball players run to home stretch, they are using every fiber of their being to score for their team.
You can’t say they aren’t working hard when they’re running at high speeds toward a rewarding victory.
After spring break, college students experience their own type of “home stretch”, but unlike baseball players, the “running” is nowhere to be found.
Once the fun of spring break is over, students are back in school, but with less motivation than ever before. Once getting a taste of freedom over the break, the only thing on student’s minds is the end of the semester.
They are diagnosed with “spring break-itis” and the only cure is summer.
Running late to class, not turning in assignments and increased absences are all symptoms of this disease. As summer inches closer, it becomes apparent that most students have already checked out mentally before the term is actually over.
The shortness and the placement of the break could also attribute to why students turn into zombies.
They are only given a short taste of what it feels like to have freedom. Once they are exposed to this care-free week of fun, they become uneasy when they have to wait until summer vacation to experience something similar.
It’s akin to watching a movie trailer and waiting two grueling months to watch the full movie.
Delta student Eleanor Mafi suggests a cure to the lack of motivation students could be experiencing due to spring break-itis.
“Just get rid of spring break all together then. That would really speed things up and students wouldn’t feel as unmotivated as they do with the break” Mafi said.
This is an interesting suggestion that could possibly work for students who were bitten by the spring break bug. Most students would probably disagree with this sentiment, but teachers would be pleased to see their zombie-like student rise from the dead.
With finals just around the corner and with this epidemic rising, grades also tend to see a drop as well. Students come so far and learn so much throughout the semester to fall under the spell of the break.
“With finals coming up I feel that we only have such a short time left as school, so it makes me want the rest of the semester to go by a lot faster” Mafi added.
Delta instructor, Melissa Deverall has noticed that there has been a change in student behavior since spring break has passed.
“It’s important as an instructor to ensure that students keep motivated throughout the year, especially as finals come”
Accumulating all of the lectures and pearls of wisdom we have learned in our classes this year, finals are the last and vital road block until vacation arrives. The importance of finals should not be dismissed within the mad rush of completing the semester.
Running towards their home stretch, students will have to face the heat of finals before they get to lay out in the sun.