Pup Cup

This weekend was Pup cup, enough said. Peer pressure, peer pressure, peer pressure. Pup cup is a weekend at Assumption, similar to spring weekend. There is a carnival with games and events and a barbeque all day long. Many students also drink, drink, drink, all day and all night for this event. The big day is Saturday.

Saturday mornings are my one night out of the week where I can sleep in all morning and afternoon long. My friends know I hate when people wake me up, but they decided to wake me up any way at 11:00. Seems like a resasonable time but I usually sleep until 12 and get out of bed at about 1.

At least there was a reason for Liz to wake me up: Breakfast at the Gold Star Diner. I wanted to tell her to leave so I could roll over and go to sleep, but with the peer pressure of her and some of the other girls, I had to get up. With the flick of the lights, there was no way I was going to fall back asleep. They said they did not want to waste the beautiful day away, it was pup cup so we had to get back to go to the events, and the food is cheap and delicious. This was the only thing getting me out of bed on Saturday morning.

It was well worth it. The food was great and cheap, perfect for a college student. We got back to campus and of course we do not do work, instead we go to the carnival. We thought we would only be there for an hour or so but we were there the whole day. No time or excuses to leave and do work. With finals week coming up, that was probably not a good choice, but it was pup cup, no work. After a nice meal at the barbeque, the night was only beginning and of course, we are all peer pressured to go out and again, no work!

The beach was so worth it!

Today, Sunday, was filled with peer pressure. It is once again my other roommates birthday. We celebrated last night, no peer pressure there. Assumption had a barbeque at night so we did that then sung to her and hung out. The weather was so nice; it put everyone in a good mood.

So today, it was about 90 degrees. We made tentative plans to go to my friend’s beach house for the day. I wanted to go, but I have a big test on Tuesday and I cannot study for it on Monday. That means I would have to do everything tonight. Well this morning when she woke me up, I was hesitant but when there is a group of 15 girls going and begging you to go, telling you it is going to be so fun, I couldn’t resist. I was laying in bed deciding when a few of them walked in. Some of the peer pressure ideas consisted of “it is going to be so nice out today” “we have finals in a week, soak it all up now” “we can be nice and tan and just sleep and relax on the beach today.” And of course, there was “you can do your work when we get back, we won’t be back to late, we all have work to day.”

So of course I pack my bag, and we are on our way. A pit stop at dunkin donuts and an hour and a half later, we are at Cait’s beach house. We stayed on the beach all day, it was perfect weather, hot, but with a nice cool breeze. We tried to get my other roommate to go but the peer pressure didn’t work so much on her. She did text me saying that it was miserably hot on campus and she was dying of heat. I was glad I went. We had such a good time and it was worth every minute. We stayed at the beach until about 5 and the best part was her mom had a cook out for us! Hamburgers, hotdogs, salad, pasta salad, we had the works and filled up before our hour and half ride back.

Well now it is 12:33 and I am still doing my studying guide. I don’t see how I can last much longer, I have been up since 8:30 and I have to get up at 8 to student teach tomorrow. Talk about exhaustion I don’t know how I am going to do that?

I guess when I look at it like that, I better get in bed now!

Finally, a little break in this semester

After a long day of a paper due in my 10:00 class, an hour long presentation in my 1:00 class and two papers due in my 2:30 class, I can finally hang out for a few hours. I think my main assignments are out of my way for the semester, but that does not leave it stress free. I still have many papers I need to get back so I can have a better idea of my grades. Many of my friends are going out tonight and since I do not have much work, I am going to go out. Even though I was planning on going out, I could still see a lot of peer pressure. Many people asked me if I was going out and they also said that they “cannot wait…it is going to be so much fun…everyone is going out tonight.” Although I was planning on going out, if I was not planning on going out, these words said by the right people could influence my decision.

One of my friends has a big accounting test tomorrow; she was debating whether or not to go out at 3:00 when I talked to her. I just talked to her a few minutes ago, and what do you know? She is going out. She said that she studied all she could and if she stays in she won’t learn anymore. Hopefully that is the case and when she wakes up in the morning, she can take the test successfully. Accounting is all numbers, so how hard is it for her to look at her neighbor and copy a few numbers down? Probably not hard. When tomorrow rolls around and she feels as if she does not know the answer, she, along with other students may cheat.

This is similar with papers. When a student decides to go to a bar on a Thursday night when they have a paper due on a Friday that they have not started, it is probably not going to be their best work, if it is their work at all. Wouldn’t it be much more convenient to just go to 123helpme.com and buy a paper for $19.99? Although college kids are dirt poor, $19.99 for a paper is a good barging when you are getting a whole paper written for you and you will most likely receive an A. An A will not only impress their parents, but it will also keep their GPA high, and allow them time to do what they want such as going out and partying with their friends. College kids are here to do work and perform their best in order to succeed and get a job. It seems as if it is the opposite and as if college students will do anything, or go any limit to avoid doing their work But what happens when the real word comes and hits them in the face and they are not prepared?

Its too late now

Once again, after the weekend and a lot of peer pressure, I am up late doing homework, this time, a paper. I went to Umass this weekend and so I didn’t get back to Assumption until about 2 today. Once I got back, I was peer pressured to go to the baseball game and then got peer pressured into going out to eat at the Boyton. I love that restaurant and I wanted to go but I knew I should probably stay home. Other people had work too but with simple peer pressure, everyone was going for an “Easter dinner.” The simple peer pressure worked on everyone. “We have to all go out to eat before Easter” or “we won’t be back late, you can do your work when we get back” or “come on it will be fun.” After a great pasta dinner, the next thing I know I am peer pressured once again to watch the movie Heavyweights. I was going to finish my paper but I decided I would do it after. Well that’s now and right now I am to tired and have to get up early to go to my pre practicum at a City View Elementary School. Looks like the peer pressure really did me in and I will not be finishing up my paper tonight. I guess ill finish it an hour before it is due, that is if I am not peer pressured again.

Should i go to the movies?

Last night I was under a lot of peer pressure. I was doing some homework because I have so much. It was my friend’s birthday and we had just sung happy birthday to her. One of the girls brought up the ideas of going to the movies for 6 dollar Tuesdays. Sounds like a great idea right? We’ll I had a lot of homework I should be doing and my friend, whose birthday it was, has a big test today.

After much peer pressure of “you can do you’re homework later, we’ll be back by 9” and “come on didn’t you want to see that movie,” we all went. After 6 dollars and a medium popcorn later, we were in the theater ready to see “The Last House on the Left.” I am not big on scary movies but I thought I would give it a shot. We’ll throughout the whole thing I am saying to my self “this is the worst movie ever” “get me out of here.” It had a good story line but not only was it scary, it was stupid and disturbing. Anyway we were not fans of the movie and in the end, should have stayed here and got some work/ studying done.

Now I just woke up at 12:00 and am writing this blog, cramming to finish my work before class at 1:30. My friend who has the test is saying, “that was the worst idea of my life”.

Peer pressure takes over student’s minds at school. Work is so heavy that students will do anything to avoid their homework and hang out with their friends. This, however, only leads to cheating and plagiarism. My friend who has the test today at 4 has to skip her 1:30 and study all day hoping she will get it all down by 4. If she does not…will that lead to her cheating? If she has to skip her 1:30 and miss class…will she fall behind and turn to plagiarizing? Peer pressure is not something that will ever be stopped. Everyone likes to have a good time with all of their friends and people do not want t miss out on a good time when you only live once. That could have been the best movie I have ever seen. When students get peer pressured to skip class, put off studying, put off their work and make decisions they know they shouldn’t, well, they might just take all those opportunities and plagiarize.

The week will never be over

So after a long week, it is not even close to being over. It is Thursday and a lot of people are going out. I have an essay due on Tuesday and Wednesday. It doesn’t seem that bad but it is my roommates 21^st birthday on Monday. This means I have to go out Monday night and therefore should have my paper for Tuesday and Wednesday done by Monday.

Well, we all know that not much gets done on the weekends. As a result I know I have to stay in tonight and at least start one of them. Everyone is telling me that everyone is going out and that I should. I stood my ground and decided to go to the library for a few hours and get some of my paper done. When I came back, I went down the hall to say hi to my friends. 3 out of the 5 roommates were going out when I left for the library and 4 out of the 5 were going out when I got back. I was in the room and Kelly was in sweats. She then says, “I may as well just go out” and in ten minutes she had her spandex on with a cute white top and her black boots. The other roommate, Amanda has a test on Friday, but due to all of the peer pressure, she is going out. She studied for it, but that did not stop her.

The peer pressure faced everyday causes students to make decisions that may not be the right decisions. Although she is out right now having a great time, when tomorrow rolls around…is she going to be fully prepared for her test? If the answer is no, it may result in cheating on the test.

As you know, cheating for some students is not a big deal and they do it all of them time. Getting the answer to one question on a test is only going to lead to getting a whole paper off line for complete plagiarism. Students’ get too comfortable with cheating where it becomes a second nature to them.

It would be easy for me to say I will just buy papers off line so I can go out Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and not do any work. I know that this is not the right answer and would never do such a thing. On the other hand, for a student who is in the same predicament, does not think plagiarism is a big problem, and that they will get away with it, they may do it in two clicks of a button. Off course it seems like the easier thing to do which may get you the same or a better grade, but it is not beneficial to the student who will not be gaining or learning from the experience.

St. Patricks Day Adventures

This week was full of peer pressure for me. Let’s start with Tuesday night which was also Saint Patrick’s Day. Students will go to any extreme as well as any excuse to go out and party. Whether it is a birthday or a holiday there is usually something going on. I was not planning on going out on Tuesday night. I was just going to stay in and get a good night sleep because I had to get up early to go to City View Elementary School for my observation hours. I went to the gym from 6-7 and by the time I got back…all of my friends changed their minds to go out. Fifteen minutes later, I was also going out for the night. I had to wake up at 9 which did not seem bad at the time, until the next morning. I went to school then had Ethics class at 1:30. Unfortunately, I took a nap after school at 11:30 and was not up until 2:30, I had slept through my class! I am lucky that it was not an important class to miss.

If this was a class that I would have missed a lot, I would be in trouble. This happens to students all around where they miss their classes because they don’t feel like it, can’t or get peer pressured to do it. By skipping class, it only detriments your grade and sets you back in a class. If this is a recurrence, by the time a big assignment, such as a paper is assigned, the student will be lost or confused. These are only a few causes of plagiarism. When a student misses too many classes, they become lost and when they are lost or confused what makes sense to them but to plagiarize? I would never do this but students are already tight on time and when they have to sit at their computer and write on a subject they are not knowledgeable on, it is much easier to just type their subject into Google and see what papers they can find which fit their assignment.