Becoming A Learner Summary

Becoming a Learner by Matthew L. Sanders is a book written with the intention of teaching college students how to make the most out of the opportunity for an education. Sanders states that the primary purpose of college “isn’t learning a specific set of professional skills; the primary purpose of college is to become a learner” (2). In preparing for college, I found the book a helpful guide in realizing that the way that you approach your work is just as important as the work you do.

In the book, Sanders emphasizes that attaining a college degree does not necessarily make someone valuable to society. It is by consistent, honest, and diligent work that the full potential of what you can gain from your education is realized (Sanders 8). As a student it is important for me to have a clear vision of what I can become from college. It is useful to have the perspective that the value of my education will be measured by the person I become not the degree I obtain.

Sanders emphasize our personal responsibility in this

In my English class, the teacher would assign readings every class that we were supposed to analyze. Our teacher graded these assignments on whether or not we did it and because of this many students put very little effort into actually reading the material. At the end of the year there was a huge test where we had apply the skills we had developed throughout the year. Those who put effort into the homework assignments throughout the year found the test a natural extension of the skills they had been developing. On the other end those who had skipped the analysis were not able to perform well on the test. Sanders explains that we don’t need a perfect learning circumstance to reach our potential (50). We will never get completely perfect teachers who push us to reach our greatest potential. That is up to us to determine. We decide what kind of person our experiences will help us