Karen and Steve were both in Ms. Taylor’s math class. Ms. Taylor wasn’t very strict about when they had to turn their work in, and Steve took full advantage of that. He always did his homework for his other classes, but he would put off the math assignments thinking he could do them later. However, Karen finished each assignment that Ms. Taylor assigned right away. She had to work a little longer each night, but she didn’t want to get marked down for turning in her math homework late. At the end of the semester, Karen and Steve both wanted to go to the amusement park. Ms. Taylor called Steve’s mother to let her know about Steve not turning the work in on time, and Steve’s mother put Steve on restriction until all of his work was turned in. What a horrible weekend for Steve! Even though he stayed up really late each night, he still couldn’t finish everything. The whole time Steve was working, Karen had a great time eating hot dogs at the amusement park, watching movies, and having a great weekend. When they got their report cards, Steve was lucky to get by with a “C” minus in math while Karen got an “A.”

What did Karen and Steve learn from this?