Do Teachers Expect Too Much From Seniors?

Let’s keep it real for a second. I’m sure you, the person reading this article, have heard of “senioritis”, the term for what Southern New Hampshire University describes as “severe decline in motivation and academic effort among high school or college seniors nearing graduation.” At this point in the school year, most seniors have finished their college applications or have heard back from schools, or are even already committed to schools. The only thing most seniors have left to do is finish out the school year, get the credits they need to graduate, and find time to do and complete the seemingly unnecessary “Discovery Project” that student advisors have been pushing on us since November.

With most major tasks out of the way, there isn’t much motivation or “will-to-learn” floating around the graduating class. Yet, I constantly hear seniors worrying about large tests or complaining about being assigned a ton of work over weekends, and having to balance their workload with after-school activities (which is another requirement). On top of that, there doesn’t seem to be much leniency coming from the teachers. I’ve heard teachers say that “It is too early for senioritis,” or “Senioritis doesn’t exist, you guys are just lazy,” which I, and many others, may believe is completely false, and honestly, a bit inconsiderate. I think a big factor in early senior burnout is the amount of work teachers continue to assign, and the expectation that it must all be done. 

Now, obviously, completely giving up on school isn’t a good idea, and I’m not saying teachers should completely drop any standards or expectations for seniors in their classes. However, I think if teachers truly want to reduce or avoid burnout this early in the new year, they should be a little less harsh with the workload. For example, some students (including myself) have to read 60+ pages a night on top of taking notes, then doing more work for other classes. Instead, as a more senior-friendly alternative, teachers should be limited to two homework assignments per week for their seniors, or maybe eliminate homework in general, to save everybody stress. 

Seriously, though, I think most seniors have already checked out, and I think teachers need to be more aware of that. If anything, they should be trying their best to get them back into that “academic mindset”, instead of pushing the same, boring assignments and stacks of homework down their throats, and providing engaging and interesting content that a student who has no motivation would find exciting to do. All I’m really asking is for teachers to switch it up and try something new and fun.