During Bev's talk last Sunday (I seem to be quoting Bev a lot--just goes to show that I was listening!), she said that one of the things that she learned from the Ateneo was accustomed excellence. What she meant was that doing your best was a means of survival.  Slacking off spelled certain death.

And yet what many of our students do not realize is that academia does not have the sort of sustained level of work and productivity that industry demands.  Students have at least two habits that they have to overcome when they get out into the workforce: cramming and getting the work done rather than getting it right. 

Some of our industry friends complain that fresh graduates have a tendency to slack off until the deadline is upon them. They tend to bide their time, playing games or chatting, instead of working.  They treat office hours like school hours--spent on a mix of activities, from work to socialization, rather than just work.  While it is inevitable that some aspects of work will have to be crammed, cramming in general is not an acceptable general work strategy.  Work must be accomplished regularly, at an even, reliable pace.

School work tends to be linear, rather than iterative. You do things one time.  You're graded, afterwhich there's no looking back.  In industry, we do things repeatedly.  We submit, receive feedback, and do things again, until we get them right. You don't have the option of just taking the deduction and then moving on.  You're done when your boss or your client says you're done.

While I believe that our students are among the best in the world, they are still kids.  They are bright and talented, but they still have a lot to learn in terms of professionalism.