COLUMN: We procrastinate because classes fail to intrigue us

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by Chris Ciompi

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We know that assignments are due, yet we still put the doing of them off for as long as possible.

Sometimes, things just do not get done.

As we belong to a body of academically responsible students, this behavior should be foreign to this campus, yet it seems to be a universal phenomenon that pierces every aspect of Rice life.

I mean, here I sit reading my psychology book at 2 a.m., wondering why I did not do it earlier.

Maybe my psychology book has the answer, but I really do not have any desire to look for it.

Why? Why is it that academics take such a second seat, especially at such an academically-renowned university?

A possible answer is the new social aspect that most of the freshmen are experiencing.

Yet, if that is the only answer, we should conclude that procrastination is gradually ameliorated as we move closer to graduation.

This previous statement is most definitely false.

So, back to the original question: Why?

Well, I think it is a lack of a single solitary purpose that prevents me from doing my work with any conviction.

So that is my problem, huh? Well, I guess it is, but I do not think that I am alone.

Truly, work without goals is much less likely to get done than work whose completion moves toward a previously set goal.

These goals are personal, but they are usually not set on a strictly personal basis.

It is at the suggestion of a professor, or more precisely, it is when a professor tells a student why he should try to reach a certain goal that the student will most likely achieve that goal.

The "how" to succeed in a class is not enough to motivate. It is the "why" that will clinch a sincere student.

It is this "why" that is often lacking in many of the freshmen survey and foundation classes.

A class of 80, 150, 300 -- how can the professor possibly give a "why" to each student?

He cannot be expected to, yet it is in these classes where procrastination prevails almost universally.

The classes are just too big to provide any stimulation.

Even with the infamous Socratic Method a professor cannot stimulate 300 students, many of which would rather have never taken the class.

As for that lack of desire, it is hard to set any goals at all in these seemingly rote classes.

No desire is even worse than no purpose. So why are we taking these less than stimulating classes? Why ... we are required to.

Now, I understand that the foundation courses here at Rice are supposed to provide a cornerstone for the other required distribution courses, but that understanding only inflames my desire not to take them because they lead directly to more courses, which I think I will not enjoy.

It is the joy of reaching a goal that keeps one on the track of achievement, and my only goal in my distribution courses is to get them over with and move on to something in which I can set myself up for success.

Maybe that goal of just surviving with a Pass in a distribution course could be raised to a higher standard if the student could see exactly why the subject in question is stimulating at all.

Just to use the introductory chemistry course as an example, surely if students are willing to major in chemistry, there must be something intriguing to them about Chemistry 101.

Finding that intrigue would help a less-than-chemistry-loving student move toward the forming of a goal. That intrigue will never be found in a class of 300.

So, we procrastinate because we cannot get interested, and the excitement is missing because we have no goals.

Goals are the key to getting more out of a class than just passing it. With goals, procrastination may at least diminish in severity.

Just musing here, but students may even find that amorphous thing called intrigue.

Chris Ciompi is a Sid Richardson freshman.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 22, 1995 issue.

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