<p>I'd love to read your take on this opinion piece:</p>
<p>*"Modern students are bred to run in a hamster wheel for 13 years, churning out A's and awards from Kindergarten to their Senior year. It is hard to maintain perspective when students are used to believing that every school assignment determines their future. And when Senior year finally hits, what used to be a final semester of wood shop, football, and partying has become a nightmare of AP tests, GPA points, and resume building.</p>
<p>Depends on the extent of the senioritis. A student who drops from their usual of seven As and one B, to five As and three Bs, for instance, is fine. But a student who has a real, serious drop in grades in their final term can get their acceptance rescinded at their school of choice.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that even mild senioritis is actually <em>helpful</em>, though. Because then you’re stuck trying to walk the line between slacking off a little, but not so much that it is harmful, and maintaining that balance is in some ways harder than just maintaining your usual standard and waiting until summer to party. It’s so easy to mess it up.</p>
<p>The summer between high school graduation and starting college is a fine time to recover from burnout. :)</p>
<p>That’s silly. First, football ends first semester. Second, I’d like to know how many people who take woodshop also take the AP exams. Third, except for those fighting it out for val and sal, the GPA is what it is by the last semester, the resume has been sent to colleges months before - nothing more to build. At our HS, there are 3 more weeks of school after AP exams. Seniors not in AP classes can exempt up to 3 finals if they have good grades. I think that is the ultimate time to “enjoy” senior year!</p>
<p>Isn’t that what the summer after senior year is for? ;)</p>
<p>ETA: To be honest, it’s hard not to feel like the “reason” you worked so hard in school for has been met when you have a college to go to in the fall. But the end of senior year still has to happen. This is doubly so in college: classes aren’t over until finals are over, regardless of whether you’re graduating or not. (Heck, here at Cal I get to graduate right in the middle of my finals!) College is different, yes, but it’s important not to lose sight of the difference between feeling done and being done.</p>
<p>That said, don’t work your heart out for an A you aren’t achieving for your own satisfaction.</p>
<p>From what I have seen with college kids, most of them have no problem having fun. Many parents have gotten notifications from the college or police on how much fun their kids are having.</p>
<p>When my daughter was deferred for ED, I told her not to slack off, just in case if she needed her spring interim grades for WL, and her final grades if she needed to transfer. For better or worse, she trusted me. She had the best “interim writeup” from all of teachers. To get her off the WL, her GC faxed all of her teachers writeup about her to her WL schools. Unfortunately a partner for one of her projects already got into H, my daughter had to do all the work to get an A on the project.</p>
<p>Those who keep learning will have that knowledge for their college classes, it’s not just the grades that count but the better foundation for fall.</p>
<p>I calculated that I could get straight C’s this quarter and still graduate with a 4.0. It’s tough being caught between wanting to care and realizing I don’t have to. I want to slack, but can’t let myself because there are still IB tests. There’s still material that I don’t want to feel like I’m just neglecting.
This for a while was an even bigger issue because I was putting things off because they didn’t matter, then realizing I still cared at the last minute - forcing me to lose sleep.
Now that we’re getting into reviewing for tests and slowing down on new material, I am taking it a little easier, and it feels nice.
While I know I could let the grades drop, it’s just not in my nature.</p>
<p>D had a period of senioritis with a mediocre grade report in March but has pulled herself out of the rut admirably (with NO mention of ANYTHING from me), even going from a D+ to a B+ in one AP course.</p>
<p>With a good two months to go before the end of the semester, I hope she continues the effort.</p>
<p>ha! I talked about senior slide with D2’s GC at the last conference. She said D2’s type of slide would be getting a tardy for one of her classes. It did make me laugh! Kids at this HS are still battling it out to see who graduates with high, higher or highest honors.</p>
<p>D is one of those kids still studying. Her goal is to stay in the top 10 so she can finally get some respect, recognition and acknowledgment for what she has accomplished.
Meanwhile, I am counting the seconds until she is out of that school. Can’t wait. I’m the one with Senioritis.</p>