12 years of BS? I don't know what it's like now, or what it was like for you in school, but my homework load was pretty light.
The pickup of homework load started in the last two or so years of when I went to school and from what I have seen and read, it has gotten a lot more since.
Must you always take things to the extreme?
Yes, yes I do.
AKA: working all the time, all the hours you can, taking things home just so you can get that petty raise or promotion, or to cover the bills you are barely making by with.... in order to do anything, you are constantly worrying about what you need to do for work first and other life situations secondary to that. Before you know it, you're 65, retired and now looking back on your life seeing that you spent most of it working and paying off bills, hardly having opportunity to see different places in the world, or doing some of the things you always considdered you could do later.... finding now you're running out of years to do it all or just too old to do them now and it's too late. "That's what I considder working to death."
Life is about a lot of things. Your profession is one part of it. Some jobs require tasks to be done, not for the employee to show up for 8 hours a day. If you can't work it out during the regular work hours, well sometimes you have to put in a little more. Like you said, if they don't like it, they can shove off.
Then it goes back to the homework situation and how some people call it a reference to real world work.... which it isn't. I have no problem staying a few hours after work to get something done if something unexpected occured to delay its production, but besides that, I the hours I signed to at the salery I am paid to..... there is no record or place for me to mark down any of the extra hours I take to get something done, I just do it.... but that also means I am not getting any bonus or additional pay for that overtime used, because there is no record of it.
Also, the other aspect of the company starting to take you for granted when you do stay later more and more.... they will start to throw more at you to fill up that time and get some more work done for free, at your expense.... AKA: Back to the Homework reference in school. Unless you work for a company who treats you like this, to get more work done on your own time on an everyday basis and is always expected to be done or face penalties, then homework isn't a proper reference to real world work. And if you work for a company like that, then I feel sorry for you, no offense.
For the most part, yes.
Education is never time wasted. You get out what you put in. You can go to classes, and do no other work and still pass. Or you can do extra and learn a little more. The days where you don't have classes are a fine time to read chapters, papers, etc. Or work on assignments and labs.
Yes, by your choice and by your interest alone, not to be forced by others because it is expected of you to. There was very little in school which I can relate or link to what I have been doing for a job for the last 10 years or so of my life. What has however, was the things I did take time on my own to learn over the years in which school didn't teach me. In other words I could have used the time in school to focus more into the field of work I was interested in, but school wasn't like that, therefore the time I spent in school was a waste of time overall.
Read it on your own from the internet, or read the supplemental information in your text book. I do both. The lectures aren't just a regurgitation of the material. It's a time for the professor to go over some things in finer detail, and clarify any questions. Then of course there are the office hours, where you can consult with your professor one-on-one.
Fair enough... I do this now.... but by my choice, not because of someone else's choice and expectations... that's the difference. If you choose to spend the extra time beyond your signed contract's statements of daily time spent working, then that should be considdered a bonus of having you employed by the company and should be rewarded as such (Which most companies currently do) but it shouldn't be expected of you in order to keep your job.
So, you're fine with catching up because it's behind schedule, but not fine when it's something that could be done the next day.
Yes, if it's an emergency or due to something screwing up like a machine or what not, sure.... but not when it is a regular basis thing where you are expected to get things done, just for the sake of getting it done faster, thereby the company getting some free work off of you on a regular basis. Eventually if you bend and allow this to happen all the time... once you voice that you're wearing out and not having enough time to do other things in life, then they will begin to think you are no longer worth as much as you already are. I've worked in a few companies like this and most based their reasoning on the lack of knowlege you have on your rights.
So then, what happens when the school year runs out and there is still material to cover?
extend the year or cut down the the amount of work you are trying to squeeze in through the year and carry it over into the following year..... but keep it on a regular daily schedule and keep it in the school time. If they're going to continue piling the homework on you to do before the next day, then why not just extend the school day by 3 or 4 more hours and isolate that specifically to the homework.... then send them home at around 6 or 7pm.
Sounds silly doesn't it? Well that's exactly what is going on right now, but the only difference is that you're sitting in your room or at your desk at home doing this exact same thing every night, not being able to do anything else until you have your regular list of homework completed for the next day.
Chicken came first.
Neither. I'd say expectations have caused us to become more lazy.
Ah ha! There's the word I was waiting for.... "Expectations" ~ Expectations have caused us to become more lazy.
Why would expectations make us more lazy? If you are expected to do more all the time, then you become over burdened mentally and then you become more lazy in other things because you spent the rest of your time trying to meet the higher amount of expectations....
"Too much to do to be bothered." Mental and physical exaustion go hand in hand. If you spent all your day during your free time to finish homework or some work the boss passed off on you after work, then when that is done you still want time for yourself.... time to think.... time to relax from the pile of stuff you have been doing all day already. So you sit down, grab a beer, watch some TV or play around on the computer, because it's quicker and easier then to head out and do something else during the little time you have left before you have to goto bed for the next day of work/school.
One day here and there having to spend your personal time on something relating to school or work I don't have a beef with... that should be expected as is... but when it comes to be expected of you every single day of your work/school week and in the end of the day you only have 2 or 3 hours to yourself before you have to rest for the next day, that eventually exausts yourself mentally and then soon enough, physically on top of that.... you then become more stressed, more lazy and then before you know it.... you're loaded up on anti depressants because you're always stressed, that you're not getting your proper sleep, that you are constantly dwelling on things that need to be done.... never relaxing.
It all goes hand in hand.... over worked, over stressed, thrown on pills to counter it because you're told it's "normal" so that you can continue like a zombie doing the same things over and over again... masking your problems and not facing them. You then get lazy, fat, still stressed, and nothing ever seems right. I know I myself have gone through this same BS.... and really.... they may say living/working like this is just normal and to suck it up, but is being loaded up with pills to counter what follows those problems also "Normal?"
When you have to take pills on an everyday basis just to get you through your day, there isn't just something wrong with you (Allowing yourself to be put in that position) there is something wrong with the life around you to bring you to this stage in your life and the pills only make you not care about those problems, yet the problems still exist.
We are conditioned to give most of our lives and mental/physical health to "Contribute to Society" to pay our bills, to live the life we have been dictated to live as the "Norm" to have a wife/husband and 2.5 kids and a house, with a car, because after all.... that's what happiness is.... or so we're told. We're here on this planet to experience everything there is on this planet and in this life to experience and learn from, and when 80% of each day is taken up to suit other's needs, then you're not really experiencing life for yourself, but sacraficing your life and your time so that other people can have more time for themselves to do what they want, all the while your life passes you by, doing the same redundant job day in and day out so that you can have some crappy retirement plan that just gets you by when you're older so you no longer have to work.... not enough money to go do the things you wanted, not enough youth and energy to make those things happen because it's all be used up over the years to get to where you are, and then in the end, you realize that due to inflation and increased living expenses, you still have to work to make it by and then you in a sense
"Work to death."
Screw that.
