pro·cras·ti·na·tion
prəˌkrastəˈnāSH(ə)n/
noun
the action of delaying or postponing something important with a less important thing.
“It’s only ten questions, it’s fine, i’ll do it later.” Ever been there? I bet you have, almost every person has procrastinated, not only students, even your teachers, and your parents! Us ,as humans, can’t do everything at the time it’s told, but sometimes we can and just choose not to, and do something more fun, like watch T.V. instead of doing the dishes. That is procrastination. “Now where did i put that worksheet? I’ll look for it after this episode.”
An overflow of people often get scolded if they play games before finishing homework. Procrastination is usually looked at as a big con although it can help some people in more than one way. A lot of people work better under pressure, so putting of that ten page essay and being forced into an all-nighter will get some students a better grade and can even be their best work. But, don’t mistake it for a good thing, it is still a problem, just as not as big as you think. Procrastination does carry heavy cons that make it seem as only negative. The biggest thing that people don’t like about procrastination is that one time is all it takes to be good at it and you don’t simply just never do something you are good at.
From a student’s point of view, 8th grader Mohamad Beydoun, he has mixed feelings on the topic. He explains why he delays work, “…almost every assignment because I feel like I do better under pressure.” Mohamad also says that “ if I am is being monitored, I will get more distracted than usual”. He sees procrastination as a keyhole to better work but… better work doesn’t always mean on time, “I feel the teacher should give late grades but not take away half the points.” T.V. is one of the prime sources of distraction today, “If the T.V. is on then I will focus on that”.
One of the Unis MIddle school teachers, Mr.Shockey, has procrastinated before, all the way through college. He has also put off checking students work before, but he believes that he rather it be late and accurate. His view on late grades are that the lower grade is just an excuse for not doing it because they still get points, so late grades are zeros.
High School is much tougher than middle school or elementary school, more work, harder work, and longer work, Kasem Chami 10th grader at Fordson, “i usually play video games when I don’t do work and I keep telling myself that I should get to work and finish” Math, science, history, language arts, these classes can be tough, for Kasem he finds the most trouble in chemistry,”chemistry is a good class not too hard but not easy and i feel like i should do that class’s work first but never do and it’s making really hard for me to understand.” Group assignments can be annoying when one person doesn’t do their share of the work, “it gets so frustrating when everyone but one or two people do their work while the others have A+ material.”
Others use procrastination as a getaway for better work while others get mad at themselves for not being focused. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, lifestyle and choices. People make procrastination apart of their daily lives without even knowing it and it becomes apart of them whether they like it or not. Procrastination is unavoidable.
Ali Saad
Middle School Journalist