When Thomas Edison was 28-years-old, he had already worked several jobs, filed multiple patents, opened his own telegraph manufacturing shop and created the electric pen.

So when our peers say “I don’t have time. I am too busy…”, it makes me think of what Edison would say.

The theory that we need to be in school only to learn what is relevant to our major is extremely outdated, yet so many students still hold true to that ideology. We don’t go to school to learn only about history or molecular biology, but also how we can become democratic citizens and adults, a process that should have started in high school.

With this said, students with a “lack of time management skills” is preposterous, but we hear the time excuse more often than any other. Our ability to manage time and events, both social and school related, should be at a peak. But in reality, we look like we are moving further away from this ideal.

We put too much emphasis on the social events in our lives and even more on the art of lounging in common rooms and lobbies than the events that need to be deemed important.

Instead, our time management skills have been condemned to a back road, left to waste away and never be used in a professional manner. No potential employer is going to hire the first applicant that can show a lack of punctuality or disinterest in homework.

As college students, we need to look at ourselves and where we are headed, understanding that what we do with our time will better assist us in our forward movement. This is the perfect time for us to practice writing down times and appointments in our free planners and sticking to those arrangements. Now is when we should be experimenting with ways we can perfect the balancing of our social agenda and our desire to graduate.

Perhaps a simple “no” here and there, or moving to a desk in the library rather than a chair in front of a television will bring us closer to the ideals Edison had when he was young. If not, at least we will be using our time wisely.