The classes I took weren't very fun, and I wasn't a fan of all my teachers. And I really do not enjoy group work. My attitude was negative and frustrated. I let it stay that way. It affected my learning and the quality of my work. I BS'd enough to get by.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that I kept my scholarship. However, I'm a little disgusted that I cheated myself out of a learning experience. I'm also slightly disgusted that my crappy efforts and brown-nosing were rewarded with a 4.0.
Last Tuesday, our president gave a devotional speech about Deep Obedience. It profoundly affected me, and many of my teachers have mentioned it in class. The principles definitely apply to secular learning. (You can read it here .) I also re-read this quote from Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
The real University....has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries, and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us though the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It's a state of mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing body of reason itself. - Robert Pirsig, p. 186.
Last semester, I only went to the physical University. I withdrew from the real University.
But this semester, I am committing to Deep Learning. I will learn something in every class, from every assignment. I will be less worried about grades and more worried about effort. I want everything I do to be my absolute best work. I want to cut the BS.
I'm excited to see the difference in my semesters. I want to be a part of the real University.
3 comments:
You are what I wish I had been at your age. I love you.
Great post. I so wish I could go back in time to college and really suck the marrow out of the experience rather than just surviving it in order to keep a scholarship...so I can relate. But, on the upside, since time-travel only exists in books and movies, I am inspired to continue forward and see what lesson I can learn each day from life, the real university. Thanks!
You never cease to inspire me, Kate. Here is a paraphrase of a quote (sorry that I can't give credit) that has deeply effected my approach to life: "If our only objective when approaching anything in life is to simply 'get through it', we have already lost the opportunities it holds to experience the joy of learning and growth." Thanks for this post.
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