Onward to Finals for the Spring

Just finished the last day of classes (with just the finals next week to go, which will be complete on Wednesday), and it felt very uneventful. I suppose the reality is that now people are freaking out about final exams and such, but it just felt strange. I'm always fascinated by people and their perspective on school in general.

One of the girls (and I say 'girl' because she's only 19) in a couple of my classes was telling me today that she is stressing out and nearly had a heart attack because she forgot about a project that was due on Tuesday. This instructor, unfortunately, doesn't take any late work, and she said she wasn't even sure she should attend the final because she may not pass. I suppose I'm just one of those people that feels that if you have made it this far, you need to see it through because you just don't know. I suppose it's her entire attitude that rather baffles me. She states that she is currently making $50/hour doing contract work and that she's only going to school because she knows at the end of it there's an internship program so she can get a job. In my head I couldn't help but think, "If you're making that already, why are you bothering?" I suppose it's youth and lack of life experience for her. All I could think was that school will always be around and if you have the skill and knowledge to do what you want to do, this just seems like a waste of time and effort. Of course, I didn't share this info, as I think it's important for people to take their own journey and figure it out for themselves. Then we got talking about grades and she was saying that she doesn't care if she get's C's all the way through because she's taking 21 units. Again, I can't help but think, "Why are you doing this to yourself?" I suppose if you don't care if you do well and you think there's some end point for you to be successful, then there is purpose in all of it, but it just struck me as a bit odd. I guess because I did things backward and had a relatively successful job life, I just can't imagine being in school and "not caring" about the outcome. I realize that the grades aren't going to follow me through life, but it is definitely a record of effort I have to assume, and it would then follow that if I can do decent in school that I should be able to do well on my own. I don't know. I must sound like a mom now as I realized that I was in high school the year she was born. That's a bit depressing.

As for me, I have just barely started studying for the two "important" finals (meaning there is an actual exam and not projects) and I have much to go. It will all be over in a few days though and then I can slip into apathy for several weeks. Ahh, apathy, how I have missed you.