Sure, there are campus-wide emails sent out written in Comic Sans font, grammar mistakes on flyers in the hallways, and more bureaucracy than a government office, but those are not the real reasons Mercer students skip classes or don’t turn in assignments. The real reason is laziness and a lack of motivation.
Students can only blame so much of their academic failure on the college. In reality, the students who constantly complain about how much they hate Mercer and can’t wait to leave will be the ones stuck here an extra two years because they are too lazy to apply themselves. If a student can’t find motivation at a community college, then the odds of them achieving academic success at a four-year college is nearly impossible.
In a recent VOICE poll of 50 Mercer students, 94 percent said they skip class without a valid reason to do so.
Every class has a few of these students. They’re students who show up to a class without something to write with and ask if they can have an extension on an assignment that was due a week ago.
Community colleges have sometimes been perceived as “13 grade,” but they are starting to become more credible places to get an education. In fact, President Obama mentioned community colleges in his state of the union address, and according to the most recent edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education the president is seeking $8 billion for job training partnerships involving community colleges.
Despite these efforts to make a push toward job training partnerships, some students still seem to believe Mercer is a joke. “This place is so informal no one takes it seriously enough. The way I see it is [Mercer is] too much like high school,” said Paul, a third year Mercer student who would not give his last name.
When people don’t feel like doing an assignment they’ll do just about anything to procrastinate. Being at a four-year college just provides more distractions. People can simply walk down the hall and find people to hang out with. There are parties thrown all weekend. Even simple distractions such as TV or Internet are going to follow students to a four-year college.
Other students cite even more trivial things about Mercer, such as the layout of the campus, that deter them from going to class.
If a person is too lazy to walk from their car to class, then they will probably not be walking down the aisle in a graduation cap and gown anytime soon. There’s no doubt that the path is long, and the cold weather makes it seem even longer, but that is not something that Mercer students will leave behind once they transfer.
Four year college campuses provide dormitories for their students. Unless a four year college has created a series of underground tunnels connecting every dorm building to all the academic buildings, students will have to walk in the cold weather to get to their classes. If a Mercer student is too lazy to go to their classes now, chances are they will still be too lazy to go to their classes when they transfer.
