A quick search yielded these results:
- Wikipedia: "Senioritis, from the word senior plus the suffix -itis (which refers to inflammation but in colloquial speech is assumed to mean an illness), is a colloquial term used in the United States and Canada to describe the decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their high school, college, and graduate school careers."
Hey look! Canadians have it too! And college kids!
- Urban Dictionary: "A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation"
Agreed... I have devoted my senior year to wearing sweatshirts, though I don't know if I would call my usage "over-excessive"
- College Board: "Don’t do it"
...Thanks?
- Dictionary.com: "Did you mean senhoritas?"
On one hand, the lack of desire to do anything productive provides a real problem. On the other hand, most of us still put in a fair amount of effort, compared to other students in the US. Most people I know have between 2 and 4 AP classes. Many seniors at other schools fill their schedules with art classes, "Sewing," "Child Development," "Basket Weaving," and of course, lots of free periods. So while it hits us, it doesn't pack quite the punch that it could. It would be way easier to slack off in Basket Weaving than AP English. Unless Ms. Serensky taught Basket Weaving.
This post made me laugh, especially your responses to the College Board and Dictionary.com. However, I have to wonder whether Ms. Serensky couldn't somehow make basket weaving a high stress activity. At the very least, Thomas Donley would have us all feeling bad about our baskets because he stayed up all night practicing advanced tricolor patterning techniques.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely hilarious! This was such a creative way to approach the topic. The Urban Dictionary response I believe is my favorite, they really understand us over at the Urban Dictionary headquarters. There are about nine of my friends who every day, while sitting before first period at the lockers, discusses how we will protest by NOT getting up when the bell rings. I actually consider the idea of not attending first period Anatomy, but if I do skip it, I would just have even more work to do the next day. Luckily for us, Ms. Serensky has REALLY made sure we won’t miss class, by assigning full page papers. I seem to be in a loose- loose situation considering if I do skip a class for the first time…ever, I will obtain more work. If I attend my classes I will further wear myself out. Guhh! Also, I would be extremely interested in joining a basket weaving class if Ms. Serensky taught it, but better a sewing class! I can somewhat picture her knitting with about ten cats surrounding her!
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