Concentration by Courtney

Concentration by Courtney - September 2014 Scholarship Essay

One of the most difficult things to do in this generation is to sit and pay attention for long amounts of time. Especially with the growing rate of children and adults being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder (ADHD).

For all college students, the importance of possessing the ability to sit quietly for quite a lengthy duration of time is astronomically important to the success of the student. The homework load is exactly as it sounds, a load. It is a hill, sometimes a mountain of homework just with one-day in-between classes to complete it.
Therefore, having the skill to complete it without having to look around every few minutes, check your phone, twiddle your thumbs, blow bubbles with bubblegum, tap your pencil on the table, doodle, would greatly impact the amount of time it took to do the homework. However, not only would it impact the time but it would also impact how the information was retained, and without constant interruption it would be held in your brain a lot more detailed and for a longer amount of time.

The same idea applies to sitting in class. We have all had those classes that just dragged on because instead of there being interaction, it was all lecture. Lecture gets really boring, really fast. The skill would come in handy here as well; to be able to take down pertinent information without being so bored you miss the whole class entirely. For another example, you have a writing class such as English or Literature that requires you to write a lot of essays. Here it would be extremely helpful to be able to sit and write and finish a complete thought before your mind wondered away to daydream land.

In conclusion, one of the most helpful skills you could possess is the ability to simply pay attention and to do it for a long amount of time. This ability helps not only with tedious homework, but also with long drawn out lecture and those oh-so beloved essays that give us the most wonderful writers’ block.