EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Mother Knows
|
||||
|
It’s 4:30 a.m. and I’m at my desk. I do my best work in the morning hours and it is usually before the sun rises that I find my pace at the keyboard. Coffee is brewing downstairs, just in case I break stride. But I’m here, pounding away at my computer because I am on deadline. This column is due in to my editor today and in the publishing business; well, there is a reason they call it a DEADline. Not so, I’m finding, with the rest of the world, where from classroom to meeting room, deadlines and due dates are no longer limits that should concern us. A little late? No prob. Didn’t get that term paper done? Not to worry; take another day. How many times have you rushed to a PTA meeting, or booster meeting set to start at a specific time, only to hear (speaker looking at his watch), “We’ll give everyone another five minutes to arrive and then we’ll get started.” I want to scream, “I left my dinner table with food still on my plate! I ran through the parking lot in my heels to get here on time!” Why are we lowering expectations, in fact, rewarding those who are always late? As far as I’m concerned, the only due date one has no control over is childbirth. The classroom is a prime example. And, because this is where habits are formed and standards are established, it’s an area that concerns me. It goes like this: You prompt your child all month long about the big report that is looming. The week before it’s due, you help keep him on task because it is due Monday. You sweat over the weekend, helping him pull it all together, and breathe a sigh of relief when he finally hits “print.” Monday arrives. You practically gift wrap the thesis for the teacher. And then that evening, when you inquire about the report (to make sure he remembered to turn it in!), your student says, “Not everyone had theirs done so the teacher gave us another day.” “What!” I say, jaw dropping. “Do you at least get extra credit for having it in on time?” I ask this realizing that that statement also goes against my own principles. Teachers! PTA presidents! Get us back on track before we have to reset the atomic clock and add a day to the calendar to accommodate the lackadaisical among us. Now I have to go or I’ll miss my deadline. Senior Writer Kimberly A. Porrazzo |
||||
RSS Subscribe
Digg This ArticleSEARCH THE SITE
