One of the biggest conundrums I face sometimes is deciding whether or not to go to class. I am not one to skip class just for the heck of it, but if my time is going to be wasted, it’s not worth going. I am a huge fan of traditional education. If someone experienced in their field (not someone whose career is solely education) and is going to give us an actual lecture (not reading PowerPoint slides they’ve already posted), I will attend 100% of the time. However, when it’s going to be an interactive, group-discussion, pull-teeth-to-get-a-volunteer presentation, it’s more a waste of time than anything else. Sometimes I think that these types of presentations are an excuse for the instructor to be lazy. They don’t have to present their own information; they rely on students to do that. So what is the point? I’m not paying $6500 a quarter to hear fellow students regurgitate something we’ve all already learned, I want to hear from people that can actually teach me something.
It’s not only the waste of time in the classroom itself, it’s the time surrounding it. If I go to school for just one hour-long class, from the time I leave home until the time I return is about 2-1/2 hours because of how long the bus takes and how long I have to wait. So, if I’m not going to learn a whole lot, it’s well worth the time to stay home and study the material on my own. I can be much more efficient at home, even if I take frequent breaks. I would rather not waste time with useless classes because that translates more time studying after class and therefore fewer and fewer hours of sleep (especially with 7 classes this quarter…)
Given all that stuff I just said about how much time school takes, I still spend the majority of my weekends at Camp Parsons, paying absolutely no attention to school. My argument for that is that if I actually did spend all of my time studying (which I could easily do, considering how much there is to do) I would go insane. Volunteering at camp is the one thing I do that gets my mind completely off of school. Spending last weekend with most of my best friends, getting a LOT accomplished on various projects, and enjoying the company of many generations of camp staff is what makes it so I can tolerate the agony and torture of school. Matthew Broderick said it well: “Life is packed with things you have to do, but sometimes you’ve got to live a little.” During the week, I might spend extra time studying to make up for being gone on weekends, but as long as I learn everything I can that will be useful once I graduate and pass all of my classes and have some time left over for camp and friends, I’m content. (All the stuff we’re supposed to learn that is impractical is a subject for a future blog…) So in conclusion, I think I made a good decision to go to the library and get caught up on some studying than sit through a class where I wouldn’t learn much. I guess I did just waste a little time writing this, but now I can start studying…
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