I'm usually all for extensions, who doesn't love extra time to perfect an assignment just to show how much of an awesome student you are? Well this time was a little different, turns out this extension caused me to do sub-par (my standards) on an assignment AND an exam.
Yes. The assignment of a lifetime, the Art Binder. The Art Binder is one massive project that consist of 15+ lesson plans -- with examples (not including extensions on those lessons), 9 weekly reflections, art techniques, art supplier contacts, as well as art associations and organizations and the corresponding contact information, not to mention the decorating and personalization that will make your Art Binder, Your Art Binder. We were given our assignments at the beginning of the semester (week 1) and were told to get started as our binders will be due in 9 weeks (kind of sounds like a rapidly developing baby).
Nearly nine weeks later, after working on art projects practically every spare evening the time comes to compile the master piece. I have to admit, I thought I had it under control... The binder was due the following Monday, which was also the day of our Music exam, only three days prior to two other exams worth 35% and 40% of our grades. What was my plan of action? To complete the binder by Saturday evening allowing all of Sunday to be devoted to studying for the Music exam. (The two other exams I had been preparing for during the previous week and were far enough away to not matter in this situation.)
My plan of action didn't go as planned. (Do they ever?) As of Saturday evening I had finished complete all of the projects and collecting all of the information, the only thing left was to actually put it together... Shouldn't take too long, right?
I decided that I would take the evening off and visit a friend. Which was my first mistake. (Although I did have fun and met some pretty cool people!) The night lasted longer than expected, but no big deal.. I would get up Sunday morning and finish my binder, then spend the rest of the day studying for music. That's what coffee is for. However, Sunday morning came and unfortunately for my music exam my creative side took over and I had to intricately decorate nine division pages, plus a cover page. This took until about 6:30pm. I had spent the entire day using glitter and crayons, even had a wonderful boyfriend to bring me McDonald's and help me glue things together, plus a couple of roommates who gave lovely positive feedback and somehow I didn't finish until 6:30pm! Well, let's get on with the music studying, right?
First I needed to shower, I was so sore from sitting at the table for hours, actually days and of course, I practice good hygiene. After the shower I resume my study position at the table, take a quick look at Facebook and you'll never guess what. My prof had emailed a student to pass on the word that she was giving us the entire class to finish up our binders.
Just imagine, a boiling kettle whistling at pitches unknown, four babies screaming, an LED light shining in your eye while suffering a migraine, a train rolling up the tracks just in time to sever your left arm, you just missed your bus.
I felt each of these things at one time. Not literally, of course, but I was seriously about to have a breakdown. The way our schedule falls, we have a two hour break before our weekly art class which is three hours long, ergo five extra hours to work on our art binders.
Just to top things off, my friend also private messaged me saying he's worried about the music exam and is going to focus on that since he got the "okay" from our prof to hand in his binder on TUESDAY.
Bullet to the brain.
First of all, if you're going to give an extension, please do so at a time that would benefit the "good" students, not the ones that procrastinate just for the sake of it. Secondly, if you're going to accept assignments anytime after the due date, what the heck is the point of even having a due date in the first place?! How is this supposed to help anyone in the real world? And what about us "good" students who sacrifice other things in life to do well in school because we take it seriously while other students can do as they please and in the end benefit from being careless, unproductive students?! My prof tried to justify it by saying that "students can do so much more with just ten extra hours". Not fair.
WHERE IS THE JUSTICE??!!
Needless to say, after that discovery it was very difficult to study for the music exam. I felt so defeated. I couldn't bare to look at the binder anymore, I couldn't focus on music, I just did a quick review which actually lasted a lot longer than I intended and tried to get a good nights' rest.
Over a week later I write this and am still rotted beyond belief. Thanks for reading.
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