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I'M
BURNED OUT
Stepping Outa student's guide to education beyond the classroom |
| IS THIS GUIDE FOR ME? ABOUT THE AUTHOR TESTIMONIALS RESOURCES AND LINKS SITE MAP CONTACT US |
I'M
BURNED OUT
|
| In the
article "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next
Generation" (where the above quote is from) the Dean of Admissions at
Harvard University talks about how the generation now entering
college
is bombarded from an early age with pressures to do well in school, to
excel in multiple activities, to get into the best colleges, to
volunteer, to run for class office, and the list goes on and on. Are you just plain burned-out on school? This is reason enough to take a break. It is likely that you will return with more focus, energy, and desire to be in school. The nature of our educational system is to send you through from start until finish, without a break. That process involves, at the least, sixteen years straight of school. High school counselors, college administrators, and others who work with students taking time off can help with reassurance that the benefits far outweigh the risks. Nonetheless, taking time off can be a daunting prospect for students and their parents. Students often want to follow friends on safer and more familiar paths. Parents worry that their sons and daughters will be sidetracked from college and may never enroll. Both fear that taking time off can cause students to "fall behind" or "lose their study skills irrevocably." (Fitzimmons, "Time Out of Burn Out for the Next Generation") That fear is rarely justified. Students often return to school with even more focus after taking time off. I can vouch for this one: I finished high school completely burnt-out; I had participated in varsity track, student government, volunteer activities, work, A.P. classes, diversity club, you name it. I was in no state to go to four more years of school. After taking a year off, I found I returned to school with more focus and ready to learn. However, when looking for jobs post-college, be careful as to how you frame your burnt-out period. Elaine Balych, Coordinator of Career Services at Mount Royal College (Alberta, Canada), explains: "Students generally think their time
at school is the most exhausting, while those of us who are older or those further from their
full time educational experience remember it (often) fondly as 'before
life got complicated and really tough' and see the world of work as more
'work' than school was. Needing time to recover may be seen as not
up to the challenge of OUR workplace."
Take this into consideration when explaining why you felt burned-out, or how stepping out made you a better student.Do you want this to be you? “It is common to encounter even
the most successful students, who have won all the
“prizes,” stepping back and wondering if it was all
worth it. Professionals in their thirties and
forties--physicians, lawyers, academics, business people and
others--sometimes give the impression that they are dazed survivors of
some bewildering life-long boot-camp. Some say they ended up
in their profession because of someone else’s expectations,
or that they simply drifted into it without pausing to think whether
they really loved their work. Often they say they missed
their youth entirely, never living in the present, always pursuing some
ill-defined future goal.” -from "Time Out or Burn
Out for the Next Generation".
Take time off from school now, so that you can return more focused and ready to learn. Do not let the above be you; remember to live in the present and go after what it is you really want to do. |