That was the question that my biology lecture professor asked us on the first day of his class. It stumped me - especially in a world where prices are going up and people want to get the biggest bang for their buck. So I sat there in the chair in the lecture hall waiting for Dr. Mollick to answer his own question. He waited a while before he said, "The one thing people are willing to pay for and not get is a college education. People pay to come here folks. And I've seen plenty of students who aren't paying to be in this classroom but who are paying to go to parties, who are paying to skip class, who are paying to hang out in a dorm all day. Listen to me folks, if you're not in this classroom for Biology108 ... the door is right there. There won't be any hard feelings if you get up and leave now because at least you're being honest with me and with yourself. This is your one chance. Who's leaving?"
My eyes had to have been as big as a turkey platter. I scanned the room, just like everyone else was doing, to see if anyone was going to get up and leave. No one did. I think we had been stunned into immobility. I know I was. I'd never had a teacher say anything like that before. I vowed right then and there to attend every single class I had signed up for because my parents are the ones putting me through undergrad and I don't want to waste their money. But that vow was about more than not wanting to waste my parents money. It was about what I decided to call "selfless learning".
The day I graduated from high school I decided that my entire high school career had been selfishly used to get myself into college. I used very little of the knowledge I gained for others .... college was going to be different for me. I was going to use everything I learned to better this world - to help others.
Please don't think that I was a bad student in High School or that I had planned not to attend classes during college .... I just realized that I had wasted time ... and I had decided not to do that again.
I'm going to be a second year student in college this coming fall. And this will be the second full year that I've been able to fully understand the value of an education - and just what can be done with it.
Ask yourself what I do after every class: what am I going to do with what I was taught today?
That's a good strategy the professor used. At least he didn't use the cliche "Look to your left...that person won't be in college by next fall" or something like that. Heck, I wrote a blog on that quote.
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Mind Control is Easier Than You Think
It's so true! I can't tell you the number of people I've met who went to college solely because they thought it would be an opportunity to party or meet people. I want to shake them and say, "Live in a college town, then, you don't have to pay for all these classes and then not go!"
The students who don't go to class, don't study, don't read, and don't listen to the professor, then complain about how hard the class was are annoying, too. I completely agree with your professor: if you're not there to learn, just leave.
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
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I took two years off after high school, and I am going this fall to college. Because I took the two years off and got all the party out of my system, all the "Take a two month vacation to Wahpeton for no reason at all" out of my system, now I'm actually excited for classes, homework, learning, studying, teachers, lectures, debates, all of it.
I'm not even in college yet, but you're right. I'd even add to that: You teacher wasn't just asking you to make a commitment. He was asking you to want to make the commitment.
One thing I've heard, just looking around at colleges, is generally that college is personal. If you go for your parents, if you go for the grades, you'll get nothing from it. If you go because of something that truly drives you, though, and you pursue what fascinates you, college will be the best four years of your life.
I haven't lived it, so I don't know. But that's what I'm basing my application decisions on. Thanks for this, it was good food for thought.
That's a really nice way to look at things. Makes me feel like I might have a chance at a career later on, because I'm more passionate for my future work and what I'm learning know rather than doing what the parental units please.
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This is a signature, an automated thingy that pops up when I comment, not a demand to see my blog!
Mind Control is Easier Than You Think
...with two years left before I get my Bachelors. I've been in and out of college for about 12 years. It wasn't about partying, really- I had done plenty of that through high school. I stayed away from campus as much as I possibly could, so I was never caught up in any university drama. It's worked well. The medical stuff, on the otherhand, has really screwed me up with withdraws and good stuff like that.
Great philosophy!
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
This is a nice blog... It does give you something to think about. I am too entering my second year in college and have seen so many people disappear and people that aren't returning next year!
Makes me think too :)
Like Bridge said, that is a good strategy. I wish one of my professors would have told me that.