Stephanie Marinelli ‘25, Managing Editor
This is supposed to be the most exciting time of the year…I think.
We are about two weeks away from three months of total freedom. The sun is out, dopamine levels are rising, and stress has finally started to subside.
I should believe this narrative–I mean, that’s what my professors and parents have always told me–but it just isn’t true. I consider the month of April and early May to be “the reckoning,” if you will. As a promising, young individual, you are expected to cram about 4 weeks of work into a time that is seemingly insufficient. But that’s the best way to prove your intelligence, right? Learning is all about deadlines and assignment after assignment, right?
Maybe I am in the wrong here (which is more often than not), but I consider the concept of a final exam/project to be foolish. I have never felt that I was fully able to internalize the rhetoric of a course by writing an 8 page paper on it, UNLESS, I had quite a bit of time to complete it (which is never the case).
What I am trying to say is, if the assignments given throughout the entirety of the course are engaging enough, then there should be NO NEED for the “final push” that destroys the mental health of students during a time when they should be “enjoying the weather.” Challenge students to move beyond objectivity–this should give you the answers you need on who can keep up, and who may need further help.
