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G'day Everyone.
Tomorrow is the day Mardi Gras/Lent season begins. Tomorrow also starts a disturbing trend that has been around for many years in different education levels. It's a "disease" that strikes every type of student. What is this "disease", you ask?
It's called SENIORITIS.
What's so important of Senioritis? Senioritis strikes when student becomes extremely lazy and in a full party mode daily. It's prevalent from Mardi Gras party (February) to the end of the graduation party of (May/June).
Let's look at the different levels of SENIORITIS:
High School: Senioritis begins the moment the student is told that he is officially a Senior in High School and is able to graduate in the following year. That's the moment when the student becomes full of him/her self that they "know it all" and that their 12 years of basic education is coming to an end of the days of having to get up early (yes, some literally over sleep), riding the bus, facing bullies, dreading homework, and hates the food in the cafeteria. They become lazy bums. They habitually skip school. Some hang out with crowds of other students deep into the senioritis disease. Some get into trouble with the law and some do HARD DRUGS. Some actually drop out of High School all together. They think they know better than their parents, teachers, and those in authority.
What's the cure for the High School student with Senioritis?
First, stop senioritis before it starts. If parents and teachers would sit down with the student in a Parent/Teacher/ Student Conference (PTSC) mode, they can effectively hammer out a goal for the student. Have realistic rewards for the student for meeting those goals for the next 4 years. It's an important time of the young student's life.
If a student can be told that the HIGHEST GPA they can work for will gain them admittance into the college of their choice (when they select it in Junior/Senior year), then it will motivate them to do their best in the classes of High School. Honors do await them if they do their job right.
By the time they are seniors themselves, they'll be able to resist the disease of Senoritis! They'll tell those crowd of students infected with seniorits: "Get the hell away from me, you loser!". (the truth does hurt!). When they graduate, they'll be most victorious students you ever saw.
What's the cure for the High School Students that are already infected with Senioritis?
For these students, they have the WORST PILL to swallow. It's two different pills. The first is called TOUGH LOVE. If these students are already doing drugs, dropped out, or in trouble with the law, parents have only one choice and that's giving the student tough love. It's one of the worst experiences for the student to go through. By the time they realize what they are doing, the end of senioritis has already damaged their future. That is when they have to take the 2nd pill. The pill of regrets. They will be meeting counselors, former high school senioritis addicts, and trying to salvage their futures by gaining GEDs and trying to apply college that will take a chance on their education.
Some of the former students that are permanently infected with Senioritis are the very ones that are in prison or walking around with a permanent police record on their neck. There is NO CURE/NO HOPE for them. Everyone involved in their life has tried to reach them. It is too late for them. They are the very ones that will forever preach to students in 9th grade to avoid the dreaded senioritis disease.
I want students in the 9th through 12th grade to avoid senioritis. I want them to have the best education available to them. I want them to succeed in this life. I want them to become honorable men and women that they deserve to be. I want them to enjoy life. If they will truly believe they got the drive, determination, and goals to meet, then senoiritis will be unable to affect them.
Go for the goal. Avoid senioritis.
Tomorrow: part two. The colleges/universities
Semper FI!
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