Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 4/15/04 Section: Opinion>>Columnists

KEN LOTICH [Click to enlarge]

The roller coaster ride known as higher education is intended to bring many diverse experiences and is supposed to be the gateway for future, prosperous jobs.

Classes taken in college can range from extremely easy to mind-bogglingly hard.

In many cases, the toughest "course" students will ever take in college is time management.

Unfortunately, this course does not offer any units, and like many other courses, it is pass/fail. Time Management 101 is also required every semester, no matter what year or major one is.

Time management is not offered as a general education class requirement, nor does it require a passing writing skills test score to take this class - students are "automatically" enrolled in this class every semester.

Students get their first true taste of what time management is in their freshman year. Freshmen students are usually given their schedules as designated by their advisers for GE classes. This process is often comprehended by freshmen as the inability to choose their battles.

In reality, it is actually the opposite.

Theoretically, they are very much in control of their first-semester fate. If college is not started on the right foot, it can be a tough next couple of years for them.

The ability to miss a class, turn an assignment in late, etc., are all up to these freshmen students. The first true test in time management is to see how well they can manage time for themselves, all while attempting to minimize the many distractions they face.

Yes, time management's presence was felt in high school, but college is a whole new ball game - it's the major leagues in the game of life.

Also, professors in college are not required to hold their students' hands or offer them weekly progress reports - they are there to educate students to become capable professionals in their field.

So how does one exactly succeed in the management of time? Some students pass with flying colors, some squeak by, and others just never get it down.

The true test of one's ability in time management comes toward the last few weeks before the end of the semester - which, ironically, is the time period we are presently in.

"Crunch time" blindly hits many students, a record number of books are checked out at the library and bandwidth on the Internet is pushed to astounding heights, because of the procrastination that has loomed in students' lives for the past few months.

Large amounts of work and research papers are put off and assignments accumulate, which are conveniently all due at about the same time. Many students can be seen packing the library's study rooms to capacity, green sheet in hand, with minimal time to do an incredible amount of work.

However, assignments to be completed could be found on a professor's green sheet from the very first day of class. Of course, a ton of other work has complemented those major assignments.

Some students do actually work best under pressure and deadlines - many do not.

Most of the time, these term papers and other projects do not require the months allotted to complete. The underlying fact is the ability to manage and structure one's time is what will successfully lead to the completion of all of the work assigned.

So students will be forced to push themselves mentally and physically to the limit, staying up as many late nights as humanly possible.

The amount of pressure facing students here is incredible. After all, that one major paper or final exam can make or break one's grade.

This environment is nothing new to students. It's the same story, just a different semester.

The complaints heard from students throughout campus are the same every semester, and the excuses become lamer as the "reasons" gain age.

The reality is that college is a demanding institution, and students need to be held to a higher accountability level.

To simply dismiss this work and go easy on students would be an illogical and unrewarding experience for students to have. After all, lessons learned now in college will help them do better work once they have graduated.

Whining and complaining have never gotten anybody anywhere - those who succeed suck it up and simply get the job done.

Now if we can only get the school to give us a few units each semester for our attempts at time management.

It only seems fair.

Ken Lotich is the Spartan Daily opinion editor.

"Behind Blue Eyes" appears every Thursday.

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