Millersville University - Touchstone Yearbook (Millersville, PA)

Page 24 text:

Why Do Today, What You Gan Put Off Until Tomorrow? A Common College Profession—Procras tination their laundry 1° These students went as lar c AlinoSt al' '' n order to avoid doinU ' clr home lind themselves procrast”'' Merin Studio one way or another. -Pno v Mingled within the evergrowing melting pot consisting of profootball players, probasketball players and even pro-golfers, one Is apt to find several procrastinators. Procrastinators, like other professionals, excel in a specific area. This area is known as procrastination. A true-blooded procrastinator will find himself putting off everything until the last possible moment. Me will put off doing homework, term papers, speeches, laundry, crafts, studying for a test and even such things as filing his income tax and writing letters. According to Dennis Coon's book. Introduction to Psychology, the tendency to procrastinate is almost universal among college students. Procrastinators will put off work as long as possible, work only when under pressure, skip classes, and create all kinds of excuses for late work. Some classic excuses fabricated by procrastinators for not having their work done include: My german shepherd ate my report, Mrs. Tread-ball. . . . My baby brother spit up on my term paper — honest! . . . Well. sir. you sec. I was innocently walking to class when this BIG. UGLY gorilla attacked me and ate my backpack!! So you see. sir. I can't give my speech today. . . . This is really embarrassing. Mr. Ba .ppki. but my Mom shredded up my report and used it to fill the hamster cage. More often than not. excuses such as these are not accepted with open arms by faculty members. For college students procrastination should be declared as a second major. Procrastinating is consistently linked to school work, and for good reasons. As all students know, college work revolves around constant deadlines and long-range assignments. Long-range assignments tend to be procrastinated frequently because the pressure to do the project is not immediately felt. A term paper due in two months seems like eternity when one is currently panicking about an oral presentation he has to give in two days, or even when he is worried about whether to dress up as a belly dancer or a nurse for the Halloween party that weekend. Often, even if a student does manage to find the time to work on a long-range project, he'll find something else to do so he can further prolong the agony. A true-blooded procrastinator. Misti Davis, a freshman Special Education major considers herself an incurable and professional procrastinator. Misti finds herself avoiding her projects and homework by watching television, day-dreaming, talking, writing letters, and even going to such an extent as making a trip to the John in order to avoid doing work! Tracey Driscoll, a freshman Nuclear Med. Tech major claims she is a professional floater. defined as one who procrastinates by visiting people in her dorm and floating in and out of rooms. Tracey also writes letters in order to avoid doing work. A junior computer science major. Dave Williams. says he procrastinates as often as he possibly can. He sleeps, eats and then sleeps some more so he doesn't have to do his work. Dave said that part of the reason he joined the marching band was to give him something to do besides work. Most students admit that when they begin each semester they are highly motivated and have succeeded in convincing themselves that this semester will be different because they are going to crackdown and get things done on time and do well In school. The same students, however, also men- 20 Procrastination

Page 23 text:

 Cam- Krulse was one student that combined the two options. She worked on campus as an R.A. and at a nearby restaurant. Mr. Steak, as a waitress. The money she earned went towards paying her parents back for school and extra spending money. Although she enjoyed each of her jobs, it did have its drawbacks. Two such disadvantages were that. 1 don’t have enough time for myself, friends or boyfriends.” The problem of not having enough time for a social life was common among working students. As one student put it. You have to set your priorities. Usually the first is your education, and then your job is usually what pays for that education. If getting that degree is really that Important to you. then you learn to make some sacrifices. Unfortunately, a lot of time the sacrifices in- volve your social life. As well as having those students who worked during school, you also found the other extreme of those students who concentrated solely on their schoolwork and college related functions. These students felt it was in their best interest not to add a paying Job to their heavy workload. Due to this decision, the vast majority was forced to scrape and scrounge quarters together to meet their financial needs. Most of these quarters went towards doing laundry, making phone calls (usually to home, begging for more money) and various other luxuries. such as Brook-wood parlies, pizza, and stromboli. The pressure of college life is difficult — whether a student works or not: and the financial budgets for all are tight. Most students have very little extra money for frills. and feel the strain or college expenses throughout the semester. Yet as most of us realize the cost of higher education will pay-off in the long run. when they receive their degree and enter into the job market, one step ahead of the others. April Arnold Even though Karen Kruise enjoyed her work, it did have its drawbacks. I don't have enough time for myself, friends or boyfriend Penny Pinching 19

Page 25 text:

Some people went to great extents to avoid doing work. James Smith demonstrates his favorite method of procrastination. • Photo by Ed Diesck tioned that after approximately two weeks of school they realize that nothing has changed and that they still procrastinate. Perhaps procrastination is a genetic trait, biologically linked between parents and their children, or maybe it's a disease, waiting for a cure to be discovered. Nevertheless. whether procrastination be a genetic trait or a disease. Its carriers usually feel guilty, angry or frustrated after they procrastinate. Tracey Driscoll finds herself panicking when she has waited to do something until the last minute. Tracey gets mad at herself for procrastinating, but this still doesn’t keep her from doing it again. Tracey once waited to do her speech until the night before it was due because she couldn't think of a good topic. Tracey spent much of her evening reciting her quickly written speech to innocent bystanders in the bathroom. Dave Williams, on the other hand, doesn't worry about his habit of procrastinating. When asked how he feels after he procrastinates, he answered. 'Til worry about it next week!” Dave has an interesting philosophy on procrastination. He claims that the reason he procrastinates is because he thinks everything should be put off as long as possible. This should be done, he says, because if you do everything when it should be done, life will go by too fast! Other students simply claim to be bored, lazy or have better things to do besides homework. Homework isn’t the only thing people find themselves procrastinating. Some students claim to clean their room only when they can no longer lift up the lid of their record player because of the excess weight from the inches of dust balls accumulated on top of it. Some people will put off doing their laundry until they've worn each pair of underwear three times each, and their socks have hardened from the wretched sweat. Crafts arc popular procrastinating subjects also. What can be done to help these perpetual procrastinators? Should we perhaps try to squeeze in an extra four days per week? This would surely satisfy both procrastinators and non-procrastinators. More realistically, a person could try to budget his time more wisely, and reward himself after he has completed his work, rather than before he has completed the work not yet done. Waiting until the last minute to cut out games was a common occurrence for elementary education majors. Sitting in a deserted classroom at Stayer. Sharon Lyter hurriedly tries to finish her project for Kindergarten Seminar. • Photo by Merin Studio Becky Moyer Procrastination 21