Before you get into this, you may be thinking, “Well, of course, the senior who’s heard back from colleges already is going to preach to us about why she deserves not to pay attention in school.” Granted, for seniors in the same position as me, it can be hard to convince yourself you can begin to take your foot off the gas pedal, even to hang out with friends on school nights or get that extra hour of sleep. But we should be convinced, and here’s why:

Right now, the class of 2020 is comprised of 18-year-olds (legal adults!) or those soon to turn 18. Some of us are going to college, some of us are going to go into the workforce, and some of us aren’t sure quite yet. Regardless, we’ve worked extremely hard these past four years–and further back into middle school and elementary school to reach this point–when we are expected to find our way in the world as adults. Sure, teachers complain of “senioritis” and “second-semester slump,” but instead of characterizing what seems to be a drop in the academic effort as laziness, consider some other factors. 

In a few months, many of us are going to move away from the friends and family we’ve known for years; consider allowing us to make time for them. Many of us are enjoying the first tangible substantiation of our years of late-night studying and rampant stress; consider letting us soak that in. And the vast majority of us have simply grown out of it. A future of academic, social, and even financial independence awaits the class of 2020 before we’ll even know it. Is it really the end of the world if we’re having a bit of trouble paying attention when we’re learning how to write in MEAT format for the billionth time?

Of course, teachers still have to teach in order to follow the curriculum, and of course, they want their students to respect them and do well in their classes. But maybe, just maybe, on the first warm, sunny day of spring, if a teacher brought their senior class outside or on a field trip or put on a movie during class, then seniors might actually take that time to focus on what they enjoyed about their high school experience, rather than counting down the days until graduation.

Believe me, we dislike the feeling of having to drag ourselves to school for six and a half hours as much as teachers hate watching us do it.