Deadlines
People have asked me before: 'What's one of the things you dislike the most in the world?' To which I've had a very simple answer: Deadlines.
The more I think about it, the more I find I dislike deadlines, the reasons being a few. For a start, deadlines bring out the worst in teachers. For example, those who are familiar with the IB program are familiar with what an Internal Assessment (IAs oh those little bundles of joy) is; as well as you're probably familiar that IAs are all sent to the International Baccalaureate on early March at the latest so they can get graded by (as one of my teachers put it) the "nerd Welsh tyrants" (the British are fond of the IB program). A deadline such as this one usually makes teachers confident that they have all the time in the world to give their students the corresponding assignments, so they start putting off the assignment ... month by month, the deadline gets closer, and the teacher stays confident that their students will be able to submit a good piece of work in time for their deadline. Then all of a sudden, the deadline is upon them, and they let their students know: "hey guys get what, we have to write an IA for this class, and I want you all to submit your IAs to me in three weeks time". Instead of being met with cheers as the teacher expected, this news is met with looks of disbelief and the occasional groan or two. What the teacher didn't know: The students have IAs from other classes (together with regular classwork) that they have to turn in at the same time, because all teachers had the same perception about the deadline.
What I hope you pick up from that really short story is a simple thought: "DEADLINES SUCK!" They force you as a person to work on something you probably don't want to work on for a start, and then they give you a date by which you have to turn things in. Furthermore, as the teacher example illustrates, not even they are immune to procrasinites (medical term I just made up for a person afflicted with excessive procrastination). If you're unfamiliar with what procrastination means, you probably haven't been on the internet long enough ... or you simply haven't experienced the joys of procrastinating before. In short procrastinating is finding other things to do instead of something you're supposed to do. Anyways back to the point: even teachers aren't immune to procrastination since for the most part they will leave deadlines such as that up to the last minute; this begs the question: what's to stop their students from doing the same with the deadline their teachers set for them?
I could probably keep going for hours giving examples, and giving even more reasons why deadlines are a thing sent from hell itself, but I'll just leave it there for know. If you want me to keep ranting about it, let me know :P .
Anything else you'd like me to rant about? Ask me about things, or send me mail, or even submit on my blog, I'll gladly talk about them.