I would consider myself a fairly good student. I may not understand everything in class and I may ask quite a few questions, but when it comes time to focus, take notes, and do my homework I feel like I tend to be on top of things.

Some students, on the other hand, have virtually no sense of timeliness and procrastinate beyond belief. Some people fall asleep in class, completely missing that day's notes. Some students don't do their homework until the period before it's due, and in not understanding it, beg for help from someone who did it the previous night. Some people don't even turn in more than half their work until the end of the quarter (so long as you get it done, right?).

I think it's understandable if you're feeling sick or had a pretty late night up studying to take a day or two off and fill up only a half a page of notes instead of your typical page and a half.

But when is it OK to ask to copy someone else's notes? I know I have had multiple people approach me to ask to copy study guides or notes I have taken because they simply haven't paid attention or don't feel like sifting through their own scribbles.

If you were sick for a day or gone because of sports or some other sort of arrangement, it seems reasonable to ask for that day's history IDs, but if you simply felt like taking a nap, why should I have to share what I spent my own time preparing?

I know this probably seems rather selfish of me. I know how to solve an equation. I have read the chapters in the books and know all the characters. But I know that I spent my own time finishing my work. I went home after sports practice and buckled down. And when someone comes up to me during my free period and asks me to explain a problem that was reviewed multiple times in class, or the answers to homework due the next period, I begin to wonder what they had been doing with their free time.

I'm always torn. Because, on the one hand, is it really fair to help them and have them get the same score as you when you stayed up late finishing your work while they watched TV and listened to music? But at the same time you don't want to get overly competitive about it. You don't mind the person, and you don't want them to take offense at your standoffishness.

I also often feel this way about some classes. This is one of the first years I've had teachers who don't check to see if students have done their work. Some teachers even allow students to turn in assignment days, even weeks, late and get no points deducted.

I know I could be one of those people. I could turn my work in late like everyone else, and then I would have nothing to complain about. But when I do turn my work in on time, how does it seem fair that I can get the same (or even lower) score than students who turned their work in a week and a half late?

People take days off from school "sick" because they don't feel like coming. They have a headache. They didn't get enough sleep because they were out with friends. They skip sports practices for purposefully scheduled "doctor appointments."

You could say that I, myself, could easily do the same. In fact, I probably come off as whiney. It may just be a result of the academic competitiveness I feel at Uni, but nonetheless I feel like I, and only I, should get credit for the effort I've put into my work.