Studenthood: Dealing with the small things your parents used to

Megan Schimpf Prescriptions

Instead of the junior-senior writing requirement or free electives, the University should require Basic Life Skills. Life has an insidious little habit of getting in the way, right when there are so many other things to do. A class would provide justifiable time.

Before you sit down to deal with any number of things typical for a student - there's that paper due in three days and, by the way, there's an exam on the book you haven't opened since you bought it - you've got a pile of other things on the desk, floor and kitchen table requiring attention.

Guaranteed that sometime in the process, you'll wish your parents were still dealing with these issues.

So get this: College isn't about proving whether you can do the work. That was high school and again in graduate school. College is about learning how to do the work.

It's about whether or not you can pay the bills on time - from rent to heat to water to phone - and collecting from everyone who shares the house. Finding the money - that means going to the bank to actually deposit those checks - to pay the credit card bill on time. And whether you've got stamps on hand to mail any of these.

It's about trying to stay healthy, including exercising, sleeping, eating. Finding a doctor and a dentist and then time to see them. Cooking something reasonably satisfying, and something different tomorrow night. This would involve having time to go shopping, of course.

Life is about finding a place to live that falls within the range of "acceptable" - you thought creative writing was broad - and keeping it running. Your landlord's still not cooperating about the drippy noise. There are dishes to be done before they become a private microbiology experiment. As soon as you get this year's place working, there's next year to think about, a summer residence to find, and possibly a sublettor to line up.

It's about doing and paying taxes. That calculus you slaved for in high school won't help, and April 15 is less than a week away. You thought your 500-level class for which you rarely attend lecture was hard to succeed in? Wait until you've got tax forms for three states in front of you and a calculator as your only friend. (Screw up, and the IRS might catch you in about 25 years.)

The money that earned the privilege of paying taxes came from on-the-job hours, which can take countless forms on a college campus. Any will keep you away from just being a student.

Your car needs to be washed. And the gas tank is almost empty. Heaven forbid it need to be fixed.

By the way, there are three phone messages just from tonight that need to be returned. Opening your e-mail might be a little scary because of how long it's been. Three people are celebrating birthdays this week, and you don't actually keep birthday cards around the house. Your one group of friends has plans for Friday night, another is getting together Saturday night, and your family wants to see you Monday night.

But wait - do you have enough clean clothes to make it through? Thought so. Then it's about finding the right time to do laundry, when you can commandeer all the machines. (Hint: Start stealing every quarter you see now.)

Because it's almost the end of the year, any group you're associated with is having its Big Event, and once upon a time, you thought it might be cool to be involved.

In your free time: Test on Monday, bigger test next week. Research term paper taunting you.

Ready, set, go.

So in your spare time, you can worry about what will occupy the summer months - recreation? internship? travel? sleep? - and after that, perhaps what will come in the years after graduation.

Being a successful student is about achieving in the midst of this muck, about sorting through the background din to find the right mix of everything that has to be done for all the different channels that request a portion of our energy, brainpower and effort. It's about having a life and still managing a life.

The course description for Basic Life Skills would be simple: This class will consist purely of experiential laboratory sessions that take place in and around Ann Arbor. No attendance required. No papers, exams or assignments. Students must merely show that at the end of the term, they have no credit problems, a signed lease for the next year, a schedule/job/plan for the coming months, some clean laundry at all times, a full cupboard of food and good relations with organizations, family and friends.

It would be time to find the really important things, the critical balance. It would be time to make time for all the really important things we're here to accomplish - which may never include class, but involve being a student.

- Megan Schimpf can be reached over e-mail at mschimpf@umich.edu

04-09-98