<p>I have absolutely no memory of Senioritis, but that could be due more to the fact that my graduation year began with a 1-9-6-x. A no-longer reliable memory could explain my “blank.”</p>
<p>Did you have Senioritis?</p>
<p>Theory: the increasingly strong emphasis on college admissions today (guilty as charged, at least at the misdemeanor level) has spawned today’s Senioritis. Once the die is cast (apps complete in Dec/Jan/Feb latest), it is only logical to figure “I’m all done.” Not right, but logical. S announced today (in a snit over being the only school in the state not having a snow day) that the “only class he’s still learning anything in is Math.” Upon further questioning, he opined that his Physics teacher has “already taught them a whole college semester’s worth,” and that it is “possible” there might still be a bit to learn from his formerly favorite teacher (Government). I didn’t waste any breath on the matter of English, Spanish…</p>
<p>Awww, the poor kid. No snow day for him?! I’d be in a snit too.</p>
<p>We’re still learning stuff in school, but I’ve never been less enthusiastic about doing the assigned work. Senioritis is highly contagious and there’s a real epidemic at my school, despite the satisfactory number of snowdays this winter.</p>
<p>I don’t recall having senioritis in terms of not doing work…but I did have a TON of fun in senior year. I also had a p/t job that paid very well and I was working night shifts to earn extra money. I had a long-term boyfriend (who definitely had senioritis because he had an Oberlin acceptance in hand) who had a celebrity/author mom and a busy, high-profile atty dad, both of whom where always out of town for days/weeks at a time. We didn’t host parties or anything wild like that…but we did drink some kind of wine that came in a jug (Reunite?), snack on brie and french bread and listen to Isley Brothers records…a lot!</p>
<p>I believe that our CC epidemiologist colleagues would say that Senioritis has a bimodal distribution timewise like some of our flu epidmics. The first wave strikes in September leaving its victims with extreme lethargy with respect to academic work. The second and perhaps more lethal wave strikes just after midyear reports go in. The second wave is deadlier in that those who are trying to treat the disease find that the normally effective treatments such as threats regarding college admission have lost a large measure of their efficacy. I believe that our CC epidemiologist would also describe Senioritis as a pandemic like the flu everyone eventually gets it. The main difference they would find in comparing senioritis with the flu is that the victims of the first wave have no increased immunity when the second wave strikes.</p>
<p>jmmom’s lack of memory re: her own senioritis suggests another feature that senioritis may have in common with the 1918-1919 influenza. That flu was followed by neurologic problems often Parkinson’s disease. Perhaps senioritis erases any memory of the disease from the victim’s mind.</p>
<p>I definitely had senioritis, and I remember how hard it was to keep focussed on school senior year. I got into my ED school around Thanksgiving (notifications were earlier back then). I had enough credits to graduate by the end of junior year, but was very young for my class so graduating early wasn’t a realistic option. I switched two courses to pass/fail after getting into college. One great class – Soviet literature – caught my interest, but I was going through the motions in every other class. Being editor of the newspaper and playing two sports were really what kept my head in the game. </p>
<p>It seems a lot of schools are offering options to seniors - internships, etc. for the last couple of months of senior year. I think that is a great idea! It can’t be fun for teachers to have a bunch of seniors in their class.</p>
<p>Spring 1971…eons ago…
Definitely suffered from a major case of senioritis…
Fortunately, through a bizarre turn of events involving graffiti insulting the principal on the side of the school, painted the evening after punishment was meted out for the senior skip day particpants, we never took our final exams!
Proving that even for those attending an all boys Catholic high school, and all the attendant wackiness, there is a God.</p>
<p>Up to a couple years ago, I would’ve said no, till I found my senior year report card, with some C’s last marking period, and about 17 absences…!</p>
<p>I wanted to have it, but sadly my father was like the Great Santini. Senioritis would have killed my spring socializing. I do remember that I got a failing progress report in the mail the same day my ED acceptance to UVa came. Fortunately after spending a chunk of winter break on house arrest I did repair the grade. </p>
<p>I don’t know how my son has managed not to just cash out. He just came back from missing 3.5 days of class for a state debate tourney and was AHEAD.</p>
<p>I know I had senioritis, unfortunately it set in for me sometime during my freshman year. My little kittens have NO IDEA!! And never, ever will.</p>
Yes, S PHS has Senior Transition Project for 3 weeks beginning in mid-May. Must include at least 1 week of community service, can include job shadowing, really anything productive, and is encouraged to be exploring something you “might never have a chance to do again.” I know S is looking forward to that (and he won’t have any snow days in May, even up here!)</p>
<p>I had it, for sure, in 1970. I was in boarding school and did a heck of a lot of little pranks in and around the residence/dorm (a gorgeous old house, actually), to the point where my RA almost wouldn’t let my parents take me out for my 18th birthday dinner in late May. My grades were still at the top of my class but not straight As. But I mostly remember lots and lots of sunbathing afternoons (this was northern California). </p>
<p>I kept waiting for my son to get it last year but he never did–stayed focused all the way and left high school in a blaze of glory.</p>
<p>I had senioritis, but not a really bad case because there were still NYS regents exams to be taken and at the time my H.S.'s policy was fail the regents, fail the course, you don’t graduate.</p>
<p>Senioritis, moi? I had to study like mad for my baccalaureat exam!
As for S, no senioritis for him, either. Today, he’s in school from 8am to 9:40pm, counting driver’s ed. He’ll eat dinner when he gets home around 10pm.</p>
<p>I’m with Kat on this one. Compared to the stress and high academics that I see today in the high school where I teach, I’d say that my whole class had senioritis since kindergarten. We just did what we needed to get by, never really working that hard, and playing harder. I got in such trouble in social studies class. The teacher held my paper up as an example of quality work (it was one of those answer the 10 questions at the end of a boring section in the book). He asked me to explain my study habits to the class. I was never called on again after my reply that I did homework during TV commercials. UCLA let me in despite my persistent lethargy, which was quickly cured once I got to Westwood.</p>
<p>We can’t get it in high school where I come from. One big set of exams in June determines college admissions. So senioritis => no college admission.</p>
<p>My best friend cut ALL of December of our senior year: early in December she actually called the school and said she had “kidney disease” and would be in the hospital until January. The school actually bought it.</p>
<p>I only cut every single Friday of the fourth quarter (I pretended to be my mother and called in “sick.”) One time we were out gallivanting and ran into a teacher–who never said a word.</p>
<p>No one cared–as long as we called in. Our moms worked (the only ones who did, BTW). We were into well-thought of colleges–so the school didn’t bother us.</p>
<p>I had senioritis from the middle of my junior year on. I was able to keep the grades up but my heart was already at college. (And I don’t mean a BF. Don’t think I even had one at the time.)</p>