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Show April 5, 1985 . Forum Fage (5 feature articles Procrastination Causes More Than Just Delayed Assignments h,j Marir Michelle H V'.sx marked off the dale on my Ziggy Calendar. You know the " kind, one of tho.se big, fantastic, in calendars that you buy Folletts book store at the beginning of the semester, while the images of advance reading, smooth s and stress-frefinals still dance in your dreams. The calendar has great big squares, framed in blue, for you to write your daily To Do's" in. It is a wonderful tool for the promotion of academic excellence. It is also a bane to the procrastinators existence. 1rocrasli nation: a threat word, it's long, it sounds effective and it means, quite simply, not doing it when you should be doing it. And, if you are like me, taking the time to look up the definition of the word in Websters Dictionary, is a wonderful aid to "Not Doing. Are my articles being written? No. Are my chapters being read? No. What is done? Well, I know what procrastination means. Procrastination is a finely honed art, and requires a lifetime of acquisition. There is a great challenge to be an effective procrasti- Today 1 mid-ter- pre-fin- LctVbe-organized- mid-term- e nator, in coming up with new ways to avoid the (Im certain at least some of you are familiar inevitable task at hand, and the creation of with the scenario.) intricate rationalizations, when the time of So, out of procrastination you get to see a lot ultimatums finally arrive, and inevitably you of good movies, enjoy some great company and have to do what you should have done earlier. fail the psychology In other words, procrastination is a lotof hard' conversation, and... you work. Now, procrastination does have its benefits, especially when shared with otner procrastinators. Mostof my friends are great supporters for one anothers (and my own) avoidance of behavior. Every Wednesday, after class we dawdle around humming about all of the hours of studying weve got to do, pantomiming our intentions of getting into our cars and heading home to do our work, and just dying until someone finally says, Want to go to a show? really need to study, Provocateur: Yeah, me too. ItesjKinse: Itesponse: morrow. I Auggghh... psychology test to- Provocateur: Marketing test for me. ltesX)nse: Well . . . what movie do you want to see? Provocateur: Any movie, lets go. Higher Education Abandons Mission business NEW YORK, NY (CPS)-B- ig wishes higher education would get back to basics and leave specialization to the corporate classroom, a Carnegie Foundation for the Advancementpf Teaching study says. While most admit theyre generally happy with their employees educations, corporations spend $100 billion a year to educate workers, partly because colleges spend too little time teaching communication and problem solving skills, the study notes. There does appear to be a need for this kind of training, agrees Sylvia Galloway, spokeswoman for the American Council on Education. Many (corporate) programs look comparable to whats offered in a traditional college setting with lots of training in the basics, she says. We dont necessarily aim at covering higher education deficiencies,? claimsTerri Capatosto of McDonalds media relations department. But we do offer 18 hours of accredited courses toward an associate degree in food service. "Higher education is abandoning its own mission and purpose, claims Carnegie Foundation communications director Bob llochstein. Its attempting to imitate and rival corpo- says. Big business now educates millions of work- ers a year in courses ranging from remedial reading to nuclear physics, says study author Nell Eurich. As a result, corporate schools must broaden to include math, reading and communication, basic skills that should be taught in college, she adds. their-curricul- Corporate education has become a matter of teaching basic skills as well as narrow specialization, Eurich explains. These studies shouldnt have to be duplicated in corxrate classrooms. Especially not for college graduates." Were broadening our curriculum beyond agrees Steve Finn of McDonalds chief rival. Burger King. We offer general courses knowing they have many applications, he explains. Thousands go through our program each year. We have a major interest in higher education. Other corporations have similar, interests, Carnegies Hockstein notes, and higher education should take its cue from them. Higher education needs to evaluate the flexibility of its programs and its goal orientation and teach people to live responsibly in a complex world, Hochstein says. Corporations are doing lots that is of interest in education and education leaders should recognize corporations as a new partner. Womens Conference Explores Careers all .sorts of careers such as a chologist ami Kleinschmidt. This psy- according to years Womens Conference is not the first at Westminster, says Kleinschmidt. There u ie, also one last year w hich was very successful. Kleinschmidt said that she would like to see the conference continue every year, but she said that it all depends on w bother or not they get the funds. The cost for attending the conference is $ and includes lunch. Although is not necessary, it is advised. Registration is possible by calling Westminster College at 481-TtCi- extension 252. What procrastination does in the longterm is cause a lot of unnecessary stress. Last minute studying just doesnt work as well as studying that is spread out through the semester. It cant, your mind, no matter how high you score on I.Q. tests, can only assimilate and retain so much information, and if you bingepurge your poor brain with information you are just asking for trouble. According to John lioekenburg, a local psychologist in private practice, procrastination can have a number of ill effects. Procrastination is basically avoiding something you find unpleasant or frightening," said lioekenburg. That avoidance of something you have to do leads to increased stress. Which inevitably leads to both physical and emotional deterioration. ill He cites, as an example, students that become just prior to, or following tests and other lioekenburg said that students need to understand that the habit of procrastination is learned and therefore can be unlearned. Once conditioned to it, procrastination is not an easy habit to suddenly break and Rocken-bur- g suggested that looking at life from a new perspective and trying to incorporate new attitudes into life to replace the less successful ones is a good beginning. DINE INCOGNITO AT technology, Corporate education has existed for decades to update employee technical skills, but company programs are big and getting bigger with the spread of high technology, Hochstein it h .... m m further. of what higher education should be about, he adds. . , will be women What procrastination does accomplish, more than anything else, is to keep you from being as effective as you are capable of being. Even those great evening at the movies are somewhat darkened by the knowledge that you really could have done some studying, and knowing at the end of each semester you really were capable of better work. If only Depression, frustration and a general deadend feeling also become a part of the process, continued lioekenburg. This makes getting in and finally dealing with the tast all the more difficult. Its one of those vicious cycles, lioekenburg suggests that students look at their assigned tasks realistically, focusing in on short-tergoals rather than long-tergoals. Taking things on a day to day basis is a much more effective way to handle problems, said lioekenburg. If you accomplish things task by task, rather than looki ng at the mass of things, youll find yourself procrastinating less and accomplishing more. Rockenburgalso suggests that students allow for personal time in their schedules. A lot of students seem to set themselves up with an all study, no play plan which is highly unrealistic, and in my opinion, unhealthy. What students need to do is schedule work time and play time and carry through with both. Were generally happy with what were seeing coming out of colleges, she added. But we need to take university training one step rate education when liberal learning is the core ClA. stockbroker, electronic engineer, test. assignments. Stress can affect us physcially," lioekenburg said. We become run down, perhaps cant sleep, and are therefore more vulnerable to viruses and such. l, Westminster Founders Day Dance Discount 10 406-741- 9 1 779 So.T 100 East NOW OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK . SUNDAY BRUNCH 11 A.M. - 3 P.M. |