The number of high school seniors suffering from severe cases of “senioritis” has increased to the point that it has some caused grave concern among guidance counselors and college admission officials. Some schools, including Boston University, have been forced to send letters warning students that they should quit their slacking or risk losing their space during the upcoming academic year. But still, many seniors fail to take these threats seriously and continue let their grades slip.
In fact, the problem has become so widespread that the Department of Education created called the National Commission on the High School Senior. Some people attribute this increasing problem to a failing system, including the commission chairman, Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton. Patton believes these students cannot be blamed for missing out on the learning opportunities of their senior year.
However, many students receive sufficient warnings about the college admission policy from their high school counselors or, at the very least, from their acceptance letters. While some level of slacking is to be expected in the last few months and weeks of their senior years, students need to take responsibility for their own behavior.
If an A student turns into a D student by the end of their senior year, this change should send red flags to college admissions representatives about the student’s work ethic and future academic performance. Such a drastic grade drop indicates a blatant lack of motivation and should give schools ample reason to rescind an offer of admission. Many deserving students on waiting lists who have not fallen short of their academic potential then should be given consideration.
Each school should evaluate each student’s performance on an individual basis, eliminating the need for a national commission to study this problem. If every school adopts and enforces such stringent policies, it would send a strong message to students that the last year of school is just as important in the admission process as the previous ones.
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