Deadlines. They are rare in Mary Ward but when they do come, they hit students – and we can’t forget the teachers – hard. It’s true that at Ward, the students get to decide how they spend their time, but it does not mean that there aren’t dates when things must be finished. When these dates come, sleep is no longer a regular bodily function for students and brains are at work sometimes more than 24 hours a day.
June Rush is its infamous name and this time of the year is always the craziest. The name is pretty much self-explanatory. It is the rush to finish all units with tests by the end of the last week of May and to submit units without by the end of the first week of June. The countdown to June Rush begins after March break. Many wonder – isn’t that too early? Oh no, no, no. Time flies at Ward. Seriously. There’s even a page on the agenda whose sole purpose is to remind everyone that there are 40 school days left to hand in units. Of course, in keeping with true Mary Ward spirit, no one begins to bust their butts and actually starts to do work until the week before units with tests have to be handed in, and chaos ensues. One of my classmates even suggested changing the name to June Miracle, because sometimes it feels like a miracle once all things have been finished. But let’s back track for a moment and look at other minor deadlines.
I have already mentioned two deadlines at the end of the year for all units to be submitted. There are, however, other deadlines throughout the year. Conditional zero deadlines occur every four unit target dates and report card deadlines happen in November and March. Many rush to meet these deadlines in fear of their parents, while some – including myself – see no significance in these and feel no pressure whatsoever. I can’t forget two very important deadlines which greatly affect the potential graduates of the school.
University deadlines can be just as bad as June Rush, though it only applies to graduating grade 12s. They must be met in order to be offered admission to a post-secondary school. If you planned on going to university and did not meet these deadlines… Let’s just say bye bye future! Okay, maybe it’s not that absolute, but who really wants to write an essay to whichever post-sec institution you want to get into explaining why your application was late? (Yeah, my friend had to do that, she says it was not fun.)
So, what are the repercussions of handing everything last minute? It’s already clear than sleep is completely thrown out the window, but there are much more effects than just having bags engraved under your eyes. One would be that teachers are SWAMPED with work to mark. I remember last year, on the last day to hand in all work, a teacher was complaining about how she received more work in one period alone, than during the whole day the day before. We students must realize the toll it takes on teachers and how we must be frying their brains with all the half-assed (sorry for the language) work we handed in. This brings me to my second point – we no longer learn anything. Students are rushing through these units and no information sinks in. So much for education right? But hey, I guess you do what you have to do to pass the course. Whether or not you actually need the information in the future is another consequence you must face.
Although avoiding all the stress must feel amazing – and I commend all those who never have been through any type of deadline crunch – I feel as that If you’ve never experience any pressure or lack of sleep during your time at Mary Ward, you never truly experienced it. As for me, I’ve experienced it enough, going on my fourth year to be exact. I am currently in the middle of my philosophy break, truly feeling the deadliness of the final deadlines to submit units. I have been running on very little hours of sleep and many of my school mates look like walking zombies. And the question, as always, is: how do we prevent ourselves from this torture?
Oh right, with the same answer, as always: “DON’T PROCRASTINATE!”
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