My Reality Of Syllabus Week

My Reality Of Syllabus Week At this campus, or any college  campus for that matter, there is a facade  around syllabus week. But what is syllabus week? Urban dictionary says:  the first week of class, when syllabi are passed out a basic waste of time. Notice the last five words, please. In my own words, it can be defined as the misconception  that the first week of college is a blow off because little to no learning is done in class, and no outside work is given, either. Thus, leaving large amounts of free time. Photo from quickmeme.com I came from an high achieving high school with a academically rigorous schedule. My teachers always boasted about how well prepared I was for college, and how my high school courses may even be been more challenging than my college courses. The constant bragging  ingrained  a pretty egotostical mindset in me; I was prepared to soar through week one with grace, ease, and a hustling social life. On Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. I arrived at my first college class. It was a lecture hall with roughly 150 studentsâ€"small enough to feel obligated to show up  but large enough to drown out one single voice. Of the 50-minute course, 15 minutes were spent going over the syllabus, 10 were introductions, and the last 25, lecture. Thats right, on day one I was slammed with lecture AND homework. To no surprise, my second class of the day went quite similarly. On Tuesday night, I planned to get my work done early so that I could go out with my roommates that evening. On top of Mondays homework, I was hit with three reading assignments, one webassign, one essay, and a whole list of required texts. The bookstore line took 40 minutes to even get to a register, not to mention the half mile walk back to my dorm carrying 10 pounds of Math 103. Photo from campusriot.com As I lugged the textbooks up three flights of stairs and finally got to my room, my roommate was sitting at her desk feverishly typing. When I asked her what she could possibly be doing, she looked at me and said: I have a speech tomorrow. Ill spare you the breakdown of how Wednesday-Friday went, but Im sure youve figured out the pattern. Ultimately, there are two paths you can choose during syllabus week: academics over social life or social life over academics. And the scary part is that your choice often defines how the rest of your college career will go. Believe me when I say there is a balance between the two, but that the pressure is on you. No professor will care if you stop doing your work and your parents cant drag you out of bed and force you to go to class. College is about a transition into adulthood, and growing up to be the person you want to be. Dont take advantage of the misconceptions behind syllabus week, because you will be in for an unpleasant surprise. Whichever path you decide to take, or however you spend your first week as an adult, remember why you are here in the first place. It may seem easy to take the common  path, but as M. Scott Peck said, Until you value yourself, you wont value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. Photo from athleticscholarships.com Rachel Class of 2020 I am studying Middle Grades Education with concentrations in Social Sciences and Literacy in the College of Education. Although I now reside in Champaign, I am originally from Vernon Hills, a Northwest suburb of Chicago.