HollisterFreelance.com | Pesky deadlines really do have a purpose

Pesky deadlines really do have a purpose

Mar 8, 2004

Deadlines. Everybody hates them but they need to be met. As I'm writing this column, my deadline is inching closer and that may very well be the reason I chose to write about this topic.

As a high school senior, I have an insight as to how students approach and view deadlines. Some take them seriously, while others try to talk their way around them.

You have an essay due in your English class or a unit test in your government class and, mysteriously, several students are absent. Don't get me wrong - I've used the "Mom, I don't feel too well today" excuse a few times when I wasn't prepared.

I didn't become aware of how important meeting deadlines was until recently. I've been stuck in situations where not meeting other deadlines put me in a blunder. I got the "I didn't have enough time" and the "I've been too busy," excuse and began to think to myself, "I'm a senior working my way through the college-bound process - which by the way is a pain, I have a part-time job, I am a member of the student council and I do have a life outside of school and work. How can meeting a deadline for a rather small assignment be so difficult, especially for an underclassman with no extra-curricular activities?"

I've always worked best under pressure and maybe that's why deadlines never really bothered me. It's understandable when someone has so much on their plate that a deadline may be hard to meet, but aren't deadlines set up to help us with our time-management skills and prepare us for the "real world?"

SBHS senior Karla Rostran has a two-sided opinion on deadlines.

"Deadlines help people build a sense of responsibility. However, if the assignment is supposed to reflect on the student and their character, deadlines only make the assignment difficult to complete because you can't rush creative process," Rostran said.

Situations beyond high school offer a different view.

"Deadlines are good because they keep you organized and on track," said CSU Stanislaus freshman Lorena Villagomez. "In college, you get a syllabus at the beginning of the semester that you have to follow. Your instructor or professor doesn't remind you when you have a term paper due or a presentation. Without a deadline or schedule, nothing would get done."

So as pesky and disruptive as deadlines may be to our lives, in the end, they help you develop a responsible way of living.

Diana Padilla is a senior at San Benito High School.