I’m going to go a little off-topic and not talk about leadership, exactly, although I do think this could certainly pertain to leadership.
Growing up, my parents taught me good work ethic, helped me with homework, and set certain standards for my education so that when I began to take control of that education (in middle and high school) I did really well in school.
I got a ‘smart kid’ reputation that stuck with me throughout middle and high school…and somehow followed me even into my senior year Calculus class (where I’m fairly confident I was one of the more clueless people in the class). That label was attached to me pretty early on and never really wore off, even as my classmates began to realize that I didn’t always get straight As, and I didn’t always retain the knowledge I gained.
…Which leads me to my dad’s philosophy on grades. I would come home from school with a proud grin and show my dad my As and Bs and he would immediately ask, “That’s great, but are you learning?” It drove me crazy when he asked that. Wasn’t it good enough that I got good grades? Couldn’t he just be happy for me like every other parent?
But my dad had a point. I had a great study routine down that went something like this:
- Test next class? Ok, I’ve got this…go home, study for test, cram, memorize.
- Next class: “Here’s your test.” … go through it really fast before you forget everything!
- End of class: (sigh of relief) “Now I can forget it all!”
This strategy, while it works well for getting good grades, does not work well for actual learning. I took four years of French and I don’t think I could survive a week there- but I got an A in the class!
What do you think? This relates especially to freshmen who are trying to just get past their gen-eds so they can move on to the more exciting topics their majors dictate.
Right now I know I’m in my Math 106 class with the joy that this is the last math course I’ll ever have to take and the hope that I’ll get a good grade.
In this period of required courses, do you study to get good grades, or do you study to learn? Be honest.
October 1st, 2012 at 8:24 pm
For me, it all depends on the class. Most of my general education requirements (except for math and science) I did not really learn much. I contribute this most because of the structure of the class. We would have the teacher lecture, then have a quiz, then lecture and then exam. Repeat until necessary. This only makes students feel that the only way to do well in a class is to cram and jam it all in one night. Whereas, developing leaders in the classroom is different.
October 10th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
In NHS at my high school, we had a similar issue with our required volunteer hours each semester. Many people were doing random and easy volunteer activities to just get their hours over with rather than engaging in community. I admit that I did some of my hours like this because of being busy with other school things; this type of work is like cramming for tests because nobody gains anything out of it. But the volunteering I did that was helpful to the community was the most rewarding to myself and to others, sort of like learning for the sake of learning; you actually gain something out of it.