Spreading Yourself Too Thin
Spreading Yourself Too Thin
by Dave Latchaw
As a music educator I see many students who are involved in too many various activities. For most this spreads them too thin, which hinders their capability to really excel at any one given activity. Parents often encourage their children to have many various experiences, which is good to a point, but with competition happening at younger ages all the time, streamlining one’s interests becomes necessary in order to excel. What I think happens is that when the student is involved with so many activities, they never really learn how to practice and prepare to achieve past the point of being average or mediocre. So often these students go from activity to activity without having ample time for the necessary preparation to do well, which causes a great deal of frustration. Some students get really stressed out, others handle it and figure out how to prioritize and be efficient with their time. The stressed out students definitely need help in learning time management skills, and also advice on how they can cut down on the amount of activities they are involved in.
Students have so many activities because there are so many things available to try. This is great, but there comes a time of overload. Many times parents approve of the student being so busy because they want their child to have the opportunity to try things and see what turns them on. Some may also think it will help keep the student from having too much free time to get into mischief. Parents have over the years have become less sensitive to the amount of activities their children are in, because they themselves have also become too busy with too many things, which makes their own life seem frantic. Being too busy starts to feel like the norm.
There is a fine line between stifling the student’s interest and keeping a perspective on just how much time it will take for adequate preparation at any given activity. You want to encourage a student to try things, but also help them to be aware of the time commitment they are making. The student also needs to learn that there is only so much time in the day, and they may have to make choices about what they can participate in. A common giveaway that a student has too much going on is when they are not successful and come up with negative excuses such as, “I got screwed”, “The judge had it in for me”, or any similar “passing the buck” statements. This happens because it’s hard to realize and admit that one wasn’t prepared and didn’t reach the standard required, or that the competition had worked harder and was more prepared. In some cases parents will support the student’s negative response rather than admitting to the student that the competition did better, or they just didn’t do well. This will just foster the “I got screwed” mentality. If students have less activities and more guidance on how to practice and prepare for the activities they choose to be involved with, their chance of success will be greater.
The balance of school work and extra-curricular activities is an added challenge. One has to figure out how much they can handle with success. Many times it’s easier to say something is “too hard” than to set aside the time it will take to do well. With instant gratification on so many levels in life it becomes more and more of a challenge to deal with any activity that is not instantly achievable. We have become an impatient society.
Because successful education is very often based on the quantity of content covered, the time spent on how to learn or practice is overlooked, due to lack of time in the educational situation. If a student doesn’t know how to practice or study they can’t be efficient with their time. In these hectic times we all have to learn to be efficient, and understand that things take time. Time management skills and the process of studying and practicing need to be incorporated along with the educational content. It should not be assumed that one innately knows how to study and practice. Learning is team process between educator, student, and parent.
