Even since I was young I constantly prided myself in thinking in what I considered a mature and logical system. I was never captivated by the social trends that my peers always seemed to hold in high regard. I would collect and store random bits of information from the various works that I read, and then turn that information into something useful be it a story or a school assignment. I was always extremely focused on myself due to my introverted nature, but as I grew older I began to question other people, why they did certain things and why they thought the way they did. It’s a complicated thing the human mind, extremely complex and difficult to understand. Every human who has ever lived on this Earth has never been the exact same, always …show more content…
William Cronon’s article “Only Connect’: The Goals of a Liberal Education” was a fascinating read as it exemplified that what made an individual a good student was not a proficiency in certain subjects, but rather a set of ten qualities that made a good character. My top strength of intellection is certainly an asset in college, at least in terms of academic success. One of Cronon’s characteristics was that a good student respects rigor, especially in the pursuit of the truth, something that I endeavor to do anytime I am in an academic setting. Every single class I have ever signed up for has been challenging in some way, not only because it looks good to take the challenging course, but also for my own benefit. I would have gained nothing without some degree of challenge, for example, if I had not taken an extremely demanding biology course in high school, I would not have discovered how much I love biology and want to go into a biology-based career. Another one of Cronon’s values that I hope to embody is the understanding of how to get things done, something that I have related to my deliberative strength. I am the first to admit that I am a horrible procrastinator however, I also will always get my assignment done whether it is an essay or simply doing laundry. I understand that if you have a task then you are obligated to complete that task, and sometimes in order to finish the task, you have to think
James V. Schall’s, “A Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning” wants us to understand that the nature of the universe gives us opportunities for different things. He addresses that the universe allows us to gain new knowledge in any place that we might be. In Schall’s “A Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning,” he mentions “one that is capable of altering us to intellectual riches that are almost never found in universities or in the popular culture.” From this I understood that the universe always gives opportunities to acquire and learn new knowledge. The universe allows us to learn different things. For example, things that might be facts or simply random things that are interesting.
The idea of having to go to school every day for at least twelve years conjures a lot of different emotions – some may be excited about the idea of learning new things and exploring their minds, while others may be exasperated just by imagining the curriculum they must complete during this time span. The term “senioritis” is derived from the feeling of irritability during a student’s last year of high school; this can cause a nosedive in GPA, lack of effort in assignments, and leaves the student with little to no determination to finish the school year. With this said, as years pass through a student’s academic journey, their passion, if there ever was any to begin with, is likely to dwindle down by the time
Since high school and now through my second year of college I have had one goal for my future, that goal was to graduate college with a degree in criminal justice. Not being interested in math or science, I was discouraged by the fact of taking classes that had nothing to do with my career choice. Thus being said, many people that I talked too felt the same way as I did. Which constantly led me to question what the importance of a liberal education was. After reading an essay called The Liberal Arts Are Not Elitist by Martha Nussbaum and relating it to an essay by William Cronon called The Goals of a Liberal Education, my perspective changed. An education is more than just a degree in your field of study, but an overall basic knowledge in which will inspire people to be the absolute best they can be.
William Cronon’s article “Only Connect’: The Goals of a Liberal Education” was a fascinating read as it exemplified that what made an individual a good student was not a proficiency in certain subjects, but rather a set of ten qualities that made a good character. My top strength of intellection is certainly an asset in college, at least in terms of academic success. One of Cronon’s characteristics was that a good student respects rigor, especially in the pursuit of the truth, something that I endeavor to do anytime I am in an academic setting. Every single class I have ever signed up for has been challenging in some way, not only because it looks good to take the challenging course, but also for my own benefit. I would have gained nothing without some degree of challenge, for example, if I had not taken an extremely demanding biology course in high school, I would not have discovered how much I love biology and want to go into a biology-based career. My strength of intellection allows me not only perform well academically but it also gives the knowledge to explore my options. Because of this I will seek out the truth in order to expand upon my own knowlege and wisdom. Another one of Cronon’s values that I hope to embody is the understanding of how to get things done, something that I have related to my deliberative strength. I am the first to admit that I am a horrible procrastinator however, I also will always get my assignments done, whether it is an essay or simply doing laundry. Due to this very serious personality flaw I have essentially taught myself how to be more deliberative, I have to be deliberative otherwise I would never get anything done. I now understand that if you have a task then you are obligated to complete that task, and sometimes
We have been taught all throughout our years of school that grades are important. True, grades are very important, but are they the only quality we should be focusing on as we enter college? Perhaps we should look past grades and focus on things such as the adaptation into the college life. Patrick Sullivan shares college education is more than just tests and intelligence. He also shares tips on how to prepare for this life-changing move into adulthood. In his article “Essential Habits of Mind for College Readiness”, Sullivan discusses specific qualities that are crucial in college years and beyond, such as curiosity, openness, creativity, accountability, humility, and character. I believe these qualities are what shape a college student, because
Throughout my life, I have realized that there are numerous times that I am encountered with a seemingly impossible task to complete. For example, with the daunting task of finishing all of my college essays before their due date, and still completing all my school work to the best of my ability, my current workload feels impossible to accomplish. Mirroring how Princeton deals
Learning that having good time management skills has shown me that I can take my time and accomplish more. When relating this to school, I can honestly say that starting early is the best gift that I can give myself. As a full-time student with a family and a full-time job, my time is a limited resource (Britton & Tesser, 1991 pg.405). When I start early on an assignment, I don't have to rush and if I mess up, I can start over or seek help if necessary. My work schedule doesn’t always agree with my school schedule but for the most part, I try to have all of my school work completed by Thursday. As I'm approaching the last week in this class, I have began to look over the discussion posts first and then I look over the complete section to familiarize myself with the material before I even go to the read section (Chambers, 2015 pg.4). I found that to be especially helpful when I first began this class because the things that I already knew or felt like I knew, I went ahead and did it.
If an individual is provided resources and surrounded by people who believe they are capable of goal achievement, said individual is more likely to experienced increases in determination and subsequent improvement in performance and well-being. For example, research has shown that students enrolled in positive learning environments where teachers incorporate strategies meant to meet students' motivational needs are more likely to become responsible learners who display a determination to succeed. In the essay "College Pressures" by William Zinsser, the pressures faced by college students at Yale are studied. The pressures include the need to develop time management and study skills appropriate for college work, the desire for good grades, the desire to meet parents' expectations, and the need to find employment in a competitive job market after
It proposes that the capacity for reasoning develops in four sequential and interconnecting stages throughout infancy to adulthood. Some main pieces of the theory are schema, assimilation, and accommodation. Hutchison (2015) describes the schema as “an internalized representation of the world or an ingrained and systematic pattern of thought, action, and problem solving (p. 119). Dan has developed a certain schema throughout his life, which includes his beliefs that people should reach for high-success, respect and obey authority, and men are responsible for the women. Assimilation occurs when an individual reacts to an experience based on prevailing schemata (Hutchison, 2015). Accommodation happens when a person adjusts his or her schemata to a new situation in which the old schemata could not relate. After observing Dan’s case, I can see that he is assimilating to every situation and struggles with accommodating to a new situation that does not fit his existing schemata. When Dan’s friends and family present ideas that oppose his schemata, he seems to become frustrated, anxious, and sad. Dan’s lack of accommodation is creating conflict in his
"The more we know the world around us, the more successful we will be." This quote, from the introduction of my high school chemistry book, was my driving force as a teenager to attend college. My expectations of college were to gain insight into a world that I had not yet discovered. I had high aspirations of receiving a good education and obtaining a good job when I graduated. But four years later when graduation day arrived, I felt unfulfilled. In evaluating my education, I realized that I learned how to get good, but not great grades. I learned how to study to make the most of my time. The focus I shared with many of my peers was not always to appreciate the information received, but rather, to value the counsel from someone else who previously took that professor's class and maybe to be lucky enough to get a hold of last semester's examinations. Basically, I acquired useful skills for any job: to follow directions, to give the boss what he or she was asking of me, and to network and gain insight from other colleagues. It was still disturbing to me that after four years of schooling, I felt I had not received the education I initially expected. Overall, college does not bring out the full academic potential of the students who invest the time and money into an education. Teachers need to set aside their biases and restructure and develop curriculum, as well as student-teacher relationships, in order to truly develop college students into freethinking, exploratory people.
I wasn’t aware that I am unconsciously procrastinating on other things rather than homework. I am a deadline procrastinator even though I’ve improved so much this semester, and I’ve come to conclude that our lack of discipline is not worth our dreams, our future. It is not easy to overcome procrastination, but I too have a hypothesis: a major cause of my procrastination is that I have a creative mind, I am more inclined to art, to transform new ideas into objects, into sketches, and to be more active. Sadly, our education system is focused on protocols, processes, robot-like tasks and training. It is creating workers in fear of the higher class losing power. Creativity is part of the human being's integral identity and by killing it we lose a little of our humanity. I am not complaining about education; in fact, I love learning new things every day. I am so passionate about education that Leonardo da Vinci is my role model, a man who was interested in many areas of study but, in the end, he was more admired as an artist, a proof that procrastination makes us more
One could refer to procrastination as a stress factor; since most college students are constantly stressed they often turn to procrastination when faced with a large number of tasks. With jobs, volunteer activities, relationships to sustain, and families to entertain, students barely have time to complete their endless assignments, and time waits for no man. Even though many students consider procrastination the simple act of delaying their assignments, recent research, particularly on learning disabilities, shows that procrastination is related to lower levels of self-regulated learning and associated with higher levels of anxiety, stress, and illness; therefore, colleges around the U.S. should have programs that help improve the mental and
As a young undergraduate, I attempted to prove myself as a hardworking student by attending my courses focused and well prepared, and conducting my assignments as required. Through my undergraduate studies, I was fortunate to participate in several student and voluntary activities. Furthermore, determinant to acquire relevant practical experience, I trained and worked at several establishments applying my theoretical ed...
During my 8th grade year, I chose to apply to one of the most rigorous all-girl schools in Washington D.C., Georgetown Visitation, knowing that I would be challenged there, which is something I valued being challenged throughout middle school in my education. Unfortunately, I was not aware of how much of a challenge I would receive, but I kept my conscientious mindset through the challenges. To me, grades and “class rank” demonstrated how hard you work, and how contentious of a student you were. But I learned that my idea of how one’s conscientiousness is measured is often the
As Boekaerts and Corno pointed out in 2005, although teachers set goals and expectations for homework, students must independently complete homework by practicing self-regulatory and responsibility. Behaviors such as planning, inhibiting distractions, persisting at difficult assignments, organizing the environment, overcoming unwanted emotions, and reflecting on what they have learned are developed in the process of complete an assigned homework. “Children who complete homework outside of school often develop an aptitude for academic work through extra practice and are responsible for regulating their own behavior, making homework a classic form of self-regulated learning” (197). Other researchers such as Zimmerman, Bonner, and Kovach acknowledge that these skills (responsibility and discipline) promote positive behaviors that, in addition to being important for academic pursuits, generalize to other life domains. “Because homework generally requires students to complete tasks with less supervision and under less severe time constraints than is the case in school, home study is said to promote greater self-direction and self-discipline attributes apply to the nonacademic spheres of life as well as the academic” (1). Furthermore, not only does homework instill positive attitudes that would last a life time, it also brings families closer together and strengthens team work amongst them. In Hoover Dempsey’s article titled The Motivational Benefits of Homework, “teachers can use homework to increase parents' appreciation of and involvement in schooling” (2).