So I am sitting here in my room suppose to be typing my english paper. Instead, my girlfriend Holly has convinced me to make a blog. Tonight I think I am going to talk about college and how messed up this system really is because I am not motivated enough to write this silly English paper. Growing up we are all told that in order to become successful we must go to college and get a degree. One of the big things about getting INTO college is getting "good grades" so you can get grants and scholarships. Although this is a pretty good idea, (Something that I did not do in high school) I feel that this habit of getting good grades can ruin your experience as a college student. Too many times I have sat in a college class and listen to fellow students complain how their GPA is not high enough for their parents, peers, or just to their own standards. Too many times I have sat through a class and watch 19 year old people STRESS and freak out about their grade in a class. Why do we worry so much about our letter grade? Isn't it just in fact, a letter? Why do we determine our success, as a person gaining knowledge, by a GPA? A number? I personally do not see the point in staring at a Geography 101 textbook and memorize terms that will never benefit me in my near future. Even after I memorize meaningless terms and take the test, not to mention get a 70% on the exam because the professor worded the questions in a funny way to screw with my head, I'll probably forget all those things I memorized the next day while I fall asleep from exhaustion of stressing out about what a benchmark means in a Geo Lab book... Instead of wasting our time taking courses that are irrelevant to my life in general, let alone my major, why don't we base success on actual experience in the field you want to focus on. You tell me what is more appealing; a college student with a 4.0 GPA and little hands on experience in the field they are going into, or a person who has experience in the field and knows how things work but has a 2.5 GPA? What justifies the 4.0 to be a better choice than the 2.5? Just because one student spent 4 hours a day cramming information about mitosis and meiosis means that he/she is a better choice than someone who doesn't give two shits what mitosis is? Yes, I understand that a person with a high GPA shows that they are "hard-working" and they do their work, but to be completely honest, I would much rather take someone who has a lower GPA but has a deep passion for what they want to do with their lives. Anyways, I have gotten off topic, what I am really trying to say here is that the whole college system should be stripped in their ways. The thing is that college universities only really have interest in one simple thing; money. Institutions tell us that we need these classes to make ourselves a more well rounded person... Yeah.... Learning how to cite a source is making me a well rounded person when I learned how to do that in the 7th grade... Oh yeah and learning about hindsight bias in my Psych 101 class helped as well... Yeah... That makes sense ;). Instead of wasting two years of our lives with irrelevant core classes that do not help us at all, why don't we just focus on the classes that actually relate to what we want to do with our lives? Just imagine the progress we would make if we just focused on what we are actually good at? Just imagine on how much happier you would be!!! I honestly think that I stress 75% of the time while I am in college and then the other 25% is me trying to forget about the 75%, which usually leads to the 75% to increase because I procrastinated a really important project for my History 150 class. I also think that letter and number grades should be completely stripped as well. Why not have a system where there is an actual evaluation process where the professor has to see how you apply what you learn to the real world. ZOMGGGG POOP!!! Did I just say that professors need to actually evaluate progress? That's a lot of work compared to turning a dinky scantron in, I'm sure that makes me look like an asshole, my bad =P. If we really want to improve our education as people in general, I highly suggest we take some major changes. For the people like myself and my fellow students, I'm sorry that we all have to go through this. Please let me know what you think about this I'm curious in what people have to say! This was my first blog btw =P.
It Is What It Is...
3 comments:
I have to agree with you. Especially since I am going to be in college for the rest of my life just because I couldn't decide in a year what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. that's another thing I think college should change. Have your first semester be an exploration period, for those who have no idea what they want to do. Of course, I thought I knew what I wanted to do (and 8 major changes later, I'm back to my original plan).. but the point is, kids aren't prepared enough when they go to college. I think part of the problem is with the high schools. They need to make the senior year 1. preparing for college and 2. preparing for the real world, since you will either go to college or go to the work place (unless you get lucky enough to mooch off of your parents for the rest of your life). no matter which direction you take after graduation, you should be prepared for it, I know I wasn't. Maybe that's why my 1 year old nephew will make it to the first grade before I graduate college...
Walk your own path. Don't ever give up. Find happiness-- and know this-- happiness is rarely found at the end of some arbitrary checkpoint it life. Live DELIBERATELY.
Sounds like you hit everything on the head. I really have to agree with you because just showing a letter on a transcript doesn't show how much a person knows. Having a professor evaluate the prgress a person does, sounds like a pretty good way to go to me. Not all people are good test takers so that puts them at a lower level on the tests than people who are really good test takers. You really have said it all Brandon.
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