BY ELENA VALDEZ
Senioritis; the self-diagnosed condition that nearly every 12th-grader comes down with. It’s understandable why one would want to give such feelings of decreased motivation and purpose a name to relate it back to. However, giving this common phenomenon a name only furthers the common senior culture of just giving up.
After going to school for 13 years, or 14 depending on your circumstances, with no break, the routine becomes tiring and mundane. Students find themselves getting bored with the swing of things and craving freedom from waking up at 6:30 each morning. Since senior year is the end of public schooling, many students just stop trying and believe that they’ve accomplished what they need to for their future.
Official grades and transcripts are not finalized until one successfully graduates, meaning that if a senior stops showing up to class and completing assignments, they could still alter their grade point average (GPA) and jeopardize the opportunities already presented and awarded to them. Senior year means one is still in high school and it must be treated that way, even if it drags on in the last 10 months of primary schooling.
Senioritis is such an immature way of labeling this impatience of wanting to get out. It sounds manufactured, and anyone who says they suffer from it doesn’t really understand the feeling because they’re just saying it to be quirky and make a scene of themselves. In my personal experience, every single student that has claimed they have a bad case of senioritis still show up and try, which is exactly what the phenomenon is not. It’s annoying to hear these seniors complain, if it sucks as bad as you say it does, then you just wouldn’t show up and you’d say nothing about it because you really, truly don’t care.
Senioritis is such an immature way of labeling this impatience of wanting to get out.
That’s not to say some stop caring because they are so exhausted by all that they have done and feel they need a break. It’s perfectly okay to feel overwhelmed and drained by the years of hard work and consistently following a schedule you yourself did not create. Cutting yourself some slack during the last year of high school may give you a little break from the rigorous academic courses and persistent stress you’ve experienced for the past three years and opting out for an easy elective should not be frowned upon but rather encouraged.
Maintaining the same academic stamina that one has kept their entire high school career is challenging when one receives the acceptance letter that they have been working so hard for or when they have finally figured out what they’re going to do after they graduate from high school. Since the plans are already in place and seniors are excited to just leave already, they do not keep up the good work and continue trying, because frankly, it comes to mean nothing.
Senior year is a lot of nothing. It is a lot of just showing up and getting everything done so you can finally graduate and get out of the place you’ve been stuck at for four years straight. And it’s easy to get caught up in not caring about any of the work you’re doing or any of the clubs you’re participating in. Mentally, most seniors are already out of high school, and coming every day is just another reminder that you’re stuck and there is still time that you must wait.
Seniors are in a state of transience. They are about to leave behind what they have known all of their lives and venture out into a world that is much more freeing and ruthless than they might even know or think of. All the options presented before them are stressful, and navigating which path they chose to follow in life is a big decision to make immediately after graduating.
By not caring just because it’s your last year, many set themselves up for future failure.
Not caring for your last year of high school is easy to do, but it’s not the smartest move. Life is not going to be simple after high school, and giving up will not be an option. It will be tough and one must persist through it. By not caring just because it’s your last year, many set themselves up for future failure. This hope for the future is the only justification to keep caring. The thought of life after graduation must keep you going.
Seniors are at a turning point in their lives, and they should be focused on their plans after high school, not nonchalantly passing by and subsequently ruining things for themselves in the process of not caring anymore. Even if it means venturing outside of school and pursuing an interest that is non-academic, seniors cannot just stop trying and claim they have a bad case of “senioritis” to justify their laziness and lack of motivation.
Photo by Sasheen Joseph
