Well, here it is.
The week before Spring break. That light at the end of a dark, cold, and snowy tunnel grows ever closer. It will, we hope, bring respite from a semester of unceasing obligations.
Yet between it and us, an onslaught of midterms, exams, homework assignments, and other academic obligations threatens ominously — unwelcome yet common attachments any pre-break week. Consequently, many students see this light not as a relief but as an oncoming train.
Complaints ring out on Facebook and campus over the unconquerable mountain of tasks to complete before break begins that prevents us from truly anticipating our rest. How can we, with so much left to do?
But complaint without action accomplishes little. Much of our anguish is not purely a product of insidious collusions among professors to generate the most possible misery anyway. You probably procrastinated in prior weeks, forgetting that deadlines are always closer than they appear.
Besides, if your most pressing concern is finishing your term paper before 4 p.m. on friday, you have a pretty good life. Most college students are in a similar position. Never before will we enjoy so many of the privileges of adulthood with so few of the responsibilities, nor will we ever again.
So go finish your last few papers. Impossible as it may seem, you will survive this relatively minor ordeal (unless you’re writing a thesis. If so, no guarantees, and you have our sympathy). And try to take from your survival as many lessons into the real world as you can. Because that’s when the challenges truly begin. Ask any second semester senior: panicking over five page essays wastes time you could spend with friends and professors you get to know for four short years.
