It is not as if I do not enjoy my education, but I have come to realize that my working hard now will not matter much in the near future. Sure, I am required to possess a degree for all the jobs that I am applying for but it seems as if recruiters are less interested in the knowledge I possess and more interested in how I perform on the job – a skill not taught in college. I can write a paper on any topic but the jobs I am applying for do not require them.
How beneficial are some of the classes I have to take? I am a history major who is horrible at both math and science. Do I really need to take something so difficult to make me a well-rounded person? I can move through life with superficial knowledge of both of these.
In my history classes I feel that I am just going through the motions so that I will reach my goal in May and I am not motivated to work as hard as I can. You can call it senioritis, but I call it boredom. I enjoy being educated but I am a little disillusioned when I have to write papers on meaningless topics. In my classes I rather draw and come up with article ideas then pay attention. I am lucky because I worked hard the first years of college so that my G.P.A. is solid because now I only have to deal with passing. I even figured how low my grades can be this semester so that my G.P.A. doesn’t take much of a hit.
Laziness is not wanting to do something because you don’t want to do it. I don’t want to work as hard as possible because it really won’t matter because I am not attending graduate school. I am more dedicated to finding a job this year than to studying. I rather watch UM football games, Champions League soccer, Adult Swim or raunchy videos on BET Uncut than utilize all of the time I have available to do homework, and I think many of us feel the same way about school.
Vontilla Steven can be contacted at v.steven@umiami.edu.