Booze Versus Books

Student Study Habits not Making the Grade

Amelia Gonzales, staff writer

It’s late Saturday night, and you have one of two options.

You can stay at home with your books open, notes in hand, and actually doing this thing some call studying. For your other option, your phone is ringing off the wall. You are starving for a girls’ or guys’ night out, and you just absolutely need to relax from a week of pure hell.

I’m not too sure how you might answer. But based on everyone I have talked to, including those talking so loud on their phones so that the world can hear, the second choice seems to be the most popular.

Sure, it may not be any of my business what others choose to do with their lives. But in a classroom situation those who chose the second option very much invade in what I am, and others are, here to do. I came here to learn and to better my life, not to sit and wait for those who can’t figure out why they made a 50 on their last exam. First, the reaction is the laugh with the I-did-better-than-I-thought speech, followed by the next 20 minutes of the instructor explaining what he or she missed.

Other than those rare occasions when instructors throw in the really-did-not-make-much-sense-to-anyone-questions, the only explanation for missed questions lies either in an empty beer bottle with the forgotten ID in your back pocket, or with the huge letter X on your hand. There should never be any reason for explanations on test questions when you have instructors who print out a syllabus for you to know what material will be covered, give hour upon hour of lectures to do with the books filled with information. Then there’s a person’s ability to take accurate notes, recorders, computers, and classmates who actually do what they are suppose to do.

I cannot help but curl my nose up at those people who spend so much money on junk so that they can look good when they go out rather than using the money it is costing for them to be at school wisely. I suppose money is not an issue for some, especially if it’s not theirs. I was fortunate enough to have a roof over my head and parents who worked every waking moment to give my brother and I all the better things in life. Still, I, like so many other students, had to pay out of my own pocket to be here.

I understand that many are here because mom and dad are picking up the tab, or you’re here on scholarship. I can only sit and envy those of you who are this fortunate. It took me seven years of living in the real world and paying my own bills before I realized I would not get anywhere or have the things I wanted in life if I did not have a college degree. I had to put everything aside, including my party life, to take the risk of being broke for a very long time.

There are times when I see how much fun those who are out on the scene are having. I do have thoughts of going out one night and paying the consequences. Then I literally have to slap myself to realize what is at stake here. Sure it may be one night, but what I learned and many still have not is that one night can change everything. I realize that everywhere you go and almost every other commercial or advertisement portrays that the nightlife as the best thing to do. Then there are the looks what can happen statistics that are lined up right behind that. Meaning, the programs such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the billboard reading buzzed driving is drunk driving. I suppose it may be hard for many to see the difference and it will take the bad things to happen to them in order for them to awaken to reality.

In either case, that decision belongs to others and all I can do for those that I know and care about is the try to persuade them to do better for themselves. As for all those that may just roll their eyes and laugh at this article, I will make sure to say hi to you ten years from now when I see you out in the real world and wait for your answer to what your doing with your life. Then of course, I will be sure to brag about how better off my life is. Then maybe, that person will finally realize the importance of studying rather than partying.