Tired of the Work

I find it somewhat ridiculous the amount of school work that has accumulated at the end of this semester. I literally have 40 pages to write in three weeks. I'm not exactly sure how this happened, and I am not happy about it. I see the majority of my friends having time to hang out, have fun, watch TV while I'm inside on the computer researching, writing, and editing.

How is it the my life has become my schoolwork? I realized I had a problem when my friends all confronted me at dinner today and asked me where I've been for the last week. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I have done absolutely nothing other than sleep, eat, gone to class, and done homework. I've become more and more depressed over the past month which I feel is directly connected to the fact that my professors are assigning way too much busy work and useless papers. I end up writing a two page paper full of fluff and b.s. and think to myself, "What was the point in writing that? All I end up doing is reiterate the professor's words."

I've explained to my room mate that I've accepted the fact that I've developed what I call "academic bulemia." I binge on facts and figures and vomit it back up on a page and hand it in. Sadly, this type of work has been sufficient. I'm doing well in all my classes, but I don't feel like I've learn ANYTHING! I've learned how to survive with the overwhelming workload by skimming over the material to get the point across. However, by the next day I couldn't tell you what I said or the argument I defended in any of the papers I've written this semester.

When did learning lose its meaning?