UNITED STATES—Homework, for many Americans it is something we encountered from an early age all the way up to our mid to late 20s, maybe longer if graduate, medical or law school is in the cards. With that being said I’ve always wondered why there are only two types of individuals when it comes to doing homework: those who do it all at once or those who wait till the last minute to complete it.
Of course, I know there are going to be a few people out there who argue, “Oh, I do a little each day until I’ve completed it.” Well, I don’t know too many people who actually do that, and to be honest, I think once you start doing homework, you like to get it all done, so you’re not stressed or worried about having to ‘finish something.’
My parents have told me this, and it seems to be a trend that I have continued well into my adult years as I work on my graduate degree: I don’t mess around with homework. I’m the type of person that likes things to be FINISHED. If I have something that is unfinished it leaves me stressed and anxious. Anxiety is the worse, because as much as you occupy your time, in the back of your head you still know that something has to be completed.
I would come right home from school as a kid and sit at the kitchen table or dining room table and just work on that homework until it was finished. Yes, I get the entire notion of having a breather when you get home so that you can collect your thoughts, grab a bite to eat and then tackle homework. My motto was if I do it now, I don’t have to do it later. Guess what, it was something I enjoyed. Why? Once the homework was completed, I could grab a bite to eat and then head outside to play until it was time to come inside for the night.
I carried that pattern into middle school and high school; I would argue high school was a challenge. Why? When you toss in extracurricular activities and the notion of having a job it’s not so easy to get everything done at a specific time frame, but I found a way to make that happen. College, now that was another beast in itself. I was quite strategic in planning my schedule where I would have all of my classes on two days during the week, but it was like a full-time job.
Class started at 8 a.m. and things didn’t finish until 5 or 6 p.m. As a result, I would never come back to my dorm or apartment and start homework. I would complete all of my homework on my next off day from class. In most cases this would be Monday or Tuesday depending on my school schedule. Anyone who has gone to college is well aware that the workload for homework, is heavy as hell (pardon my French), but it’s true. I’d start my homework around 9 a.m. and wouldn’t have things completed until maybe 3 or 4 p.m. Yes, it’s like a full-time job, but guess what? My homework for all my classes for the entire week was finished. No stress worrying about having to do this or complete that, because it’s all DONE!
Now for those of us in graduate, medical or law school, the workload is even more tense and it all centers around time management. If you can find a way to manage your time appropriately so that your course load, work schedule, social life, family life and homework time is appropriately balanced. Yes, we all know there is not enough time in a given day, but if you find a way to work your schedule where it fits your needs, especially when it comes to homework it makes all the difference America.
We all hate the idea of homework, I mean even those of us who have full-time jobs are well aware that we sometimes have homework i.e. (work that couldn’t be finished at the office that had to be brought home). All I can say is the more you procrastinate the more stress you have in the long term so choose wisely.