Andy Botros Writing 169 Brij Lunine & Farnaz Fatemi Tuesdays 4 – 5:45
The Procrastination Situation “You know what you are McFly? A Slacker!” -Principal Strickland from the movie “Back to the Future.” You know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve always thought of procrastination as a mystery of the human psyche. We know we have something to do. We know we have to do it. Yet, we still put it off. The way I see it, there is a little schizophrenic in all of us. Two voices, one of responsibility and discipline and one of instant gratification and idleness, battle constantly and gratuitously. The victor is usually the same and, again, this victor really needs no further introduction. Procrastination sucks. Not only does it exhaust us physically and stress us out mentally, but as the course of college moves onward and papers/projects get progressively more difficult (more pages, requiring increasingly thorough research, etc.) procrastination begins to hurt students tremendously. While we all are aware of the procrastination bug, I’ve noticed that no one gets it worse than incoming freshpersons in their first quarters at the University. Why does this happen, and what can we do to stop it? Over the next few pages, I will give insight into the procrastination mystique. What I want to do is, first of all, provide an excellent example of a bad procrastinator: my own. My experiences have really opened my eyes to the problems of procrastination, and I hope they can enlighten others as well. Next, using what I learned per my experiences, I will delve into a few examples of my own tutees. Finally, I will discuss ideas I’ve heard around the sewing circle from other tutors. Procrastination and I go way back. It may seem like I’m proud of it, and certainly some of my more miraculous work drives could possibly merit some kind of recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records, but, honestly, the more I procrastinated the worse I felt. I’ve had more than a few marathons. One time, I started and finished a ten page research paper at four in the morning when it was due at noon. Another time, I started and finished a fifteen page research paper that was due the following day, in addition to two separate five page essays. Again, it was ridiculous how bad my procrastination was getting. Still, lots of people fail to be aware of what serious problems lie in procrastination. You might even be thinking right now: “But Andy, why is procrastination so bad? You clearly get all your work done, why are you bagging on it so much?” I’ve seriously stopped perceiving procrastination as an act and I’ve started to perceive it more as an addictive drug. This is really no exaggeration: procrastination can be addicting and its powers of laziness can have a strong grasp on students. In my own example, the procrastination got progressively worse as high school and college progressed. I would study for tests in my AP classes only the night before; I simply could not convince myself to get on the ball any earlier. Satisfied with my grades in both the classes and the AP examinations, I also saw no problems with my personal work habits. This is the addictive part of procrastination and it must be emphasized, as this is why so many students keep doing it. I really thought I was doing okay, but the work demands got more and more difficult to deal with. I was still doing the same amount of
slacking off in spite of this. I proceeded to let my procrastination habits graduate with me as well, blissfully unaware of the demands of University-level work. This would turn out to be disastrous to my mind, my body, and my GPA. Not only did I start my papers progressively later at night, but there seemed to be more and more work to do as time passed. My procrastination in college began to stress me out. I was losing lots of sleep, I carried around a visible paleness in my face, and I began to be more easily irritable. One day, last year, I cracked. Writing a research paper for a class called “Just and Unjust Wars,” my body literally gave out. I had received warnings of this as my body began to move in ways I could not control: my arms would shake, I would tear, and I’d have epileptic fits where my entire body just moved involuntarily. I eventually passed out and woke up in the hospital with a bunch of tubes stuck in me. The doctor called it exhaustion, but now I refer to it as a procrastination overdose. I knew my ways had to change and, consequently, they did. From that moment on, all of my procrastination was kept to a minimum. While I do still write many papers all at one time, I make sure to have all the reading finished, a good thesis, and solid evidence and commentary two full nights the paper is due. Though I still have a long way to go to further rectify my procrastination problems, I’ve really learned a great deal. With what I’ve come away with, I was able to help a lot of my tutees who were having similar problems. The students got increasingly better over the quarter and, as I’ve begun to notice, my run-ins with procrastination have greatly facilitated the transformations in their work habits. The first thing a tutor needs to know is his or her exact role. The tutor must understand that they are not helping their tutee hone the study skills needed to succeed, but that the tutee is helping themselves. Procrastination is again comparable to an addictive drug in the sense that the tutor can only do so much. To sum up this point, the tutee will get out exactly what they put in. It is the tutor’s job, like a personal rehabilitation center, to provide the motivation to quit procrastinating and, finally, have the student come to their own conclusions about the negative aspects of being procrastinators. This is really the only way the problem can be solved. Now that I’ve established the correct mind set, I’ll describe some of the symptoms. Many of the signs of procrastination abuse can be detected almost immediately. Rather strong disdain or ambivalence about the particular course and its issues, the act of never bringing in any writing even a day before a paper is due, procrastination pride (as sick as it may seem), in addition to actual physical symptoms of tiredness and paleness all are solid evidence that a student is procrastinating. One of my tutees, who will be referred to only as Anna, had serious studying problems in the beginning of her fall quarter here. Anna was an addict, showing symptoms of every single aforementioned prerequisite of procrastination abuse. Nevertheless, we tackled her problem in a few weeks and I know that one of the main factors in why she went from failing the class to being at the top (and, at the surprise of the instructor, passing the Subject A exam) has a lot do with her “rehabilitation.” First and foremost, Anna wasn’t motivated. She “never really tried hard” in high school, choosing to “hang out with friends” and “party” rather than do work. In the early weeks of the year, Anna followed the same patterns. More than once she ditched our scheduled meetings, some right before the due date of a paper, to go to concerts. Trying to get her motivated was very difficult. Most students will not be able to change their minds regarding interest in course material so quickly, but if a tutor can trigger this, then, like a chain reaction, all the other problems evaporate. Examples of these kinds of students are very rare, but I would still recommend trying to light their academic fires. There are many different ways to go about this, and I do have recommendations. This is a lot easier said than done, but enchant them! Explain
why these situations are important and try to use contemporary examples: show them why the material is relevant to their lives. Also, and this is critical, get in an argument with them. It seems to me that genuine curiosity is best aroused when one gets in an argument. If you can stimulate your tutees’ wits, then you’ve completed most of the battle. Concerned and in tune with the material, they’ll start working on their own, asking more questions, finding their own answers and finally succeeding. After lots of prodding, Anna was able to motivate herself and, now beginning to care about the issues of the course, excelled in her class. The section leader thanked me for my efforts but, even though I did accept a little credit, I made sure he knew that it was largely due to Anna’s hard work. Anna, like many other students, was automatically turned off to the class just because it was busy work for her. These types of students need to know that not all work is busy work and that, in nearly everything, there’s something important to be learned. This is what happened with Anna and what could happen with many other students. The tutor can provide the spark for the tutee’s intellectual engine. A lot of annoying nudging can also be a powerful force that a tutor can use to quickly whip their tutees into shape. Something that I did with one student, who will be referred to as Charles, could be construed as over the top at first. However, it turned out to be one of my more effective strategies in remedying excessive idleness in students. I’m talking about finding out where these students live and visiting them. Charles, for example, simply didn’t do his work on time. In addition it was impossible to get him engaged into the material, no matter what cool points I brought up. So what did I start to do? I went to that dude’s dorm every night for two weeks straight and strictly monitored his progress. When he hadn’t made any progress, I totally got on his case. I became upset with him and told him that, flat out, that I was only going to put in as much effort as he himself put in. If he put in lots of effort, I would work with him for however long it took. If he didn’t put in effort, then I’d do the minimum. Over time, I had forced Charles to work much harder and his work stabilized as a result. The bottom line in all of this is that these students need discipline. Either they can get it themselves or tutors can provide it for them. As I’ve heard from another tutee, you can also try to convince your tutees that managing their time will greatly help their grade. Not only can they see what direction a potentially bad paper may be headed, but they have the ever-rewarding opportunity to give the paper directly to the instructor and have their comments inputted on by the very teachers that are grading them. Most core course instructors are very receptive to this idea and will gladly recognize these efforts when it comes to grading and evaluations. An important thing to emphasize here is that the teacher (again, in most cases) will be thrilled to see your tutee, and that any feelings of awkwardness should quickly be put aside. Another thing that I know has worked (though, again, with other tutees) is just setting a good example for them. Many tutees strongly respect their tutors for being strong writers, organized students, and, in general, punctual people. If a tutor comes to his or her meetings on time, shows thorough organization, and continues to stress the importance of good work ethics, tutees will, out of respect and ambition, follow suit. To wrap up, Procrastination is really a very complex topic. The battle between procrastination and discipline will continue to be waged in the hearts and minds of students all over the country. As I’ve tried to show, however, there are things that can be done to fight this enemy. Sparking motivation, getting tough on your tutee, showing them the benefits of getting their work done early, and setting good examples can really turn the tide.