All throughout my senior year of high school, everybody has said that college is tough. College is going to make you or break you. That college is going to be the turning point of your young adult life. I didn’t really know what to expect. I always had the vision that college was high school but with more freedom (which isn’t wrong to a certain extent). After a few years of attending college, I can relate to many of the points Annie Murphy Paul talked about in her article.
She starts off her first point as “Pursue with Passion, not A’s”. Being part of the engineering field, many of the classes I’m taking have very high fail rates. Most of my family really want me to do good and achieve a high GPA so I can find a successful job in my field. Yet, the saying “C’s get degrees” slowly became my mantra throughout the semesters. I strongly agree with Murphy Paul, I want to be passionate about my major, yet I don’t want to deal with the burden of grades to come along with it. Even one of my professors this semester admitted that he prefers teaching in an environment where it’s all hands on and no grades at all. I wished many professors had this mindset so it shifts student’s priorities from grades to the topic itself.
Because of focusing more on the passion than the grade, it doesn’t really work that well in a university scenario. I’ll admit, I failed one too many classes that really set me back from graduation in 4 years. Am I proud of it? Of course not. Am I making a difference to do better the second time around? Absolutely. Failing a class is a really shitty feeling and anybody that has failed can agree with me. But I was able to turn that negativity into an optimistic mentality to do better. I wished that many people back before I entered college told me that it was okay to fail. It would’ve helped create a better understanding of how college can really be.
Lastly, she mentions that we should create a personal connection to our studies, I can’t really relate that to any engineering class I took since it’s all theoretical but taking GE classes like Humanities and English/Writing really is a nice breath of fresh air where I could really connect my personal experiences to a platform where I can share it with others. Just like this class, blogging is very therapeutic and gives an opportunity to really speak my mind on a topic.
If I could add on to Murphy Paul’s article, I would add an advice to find yourself in a non-academic point of view. College is a very different environment where you can discover who you are as a person. While academics is crucial in a college career, I believe that making the most of your college life outside of studying and class can really shape the person you are today or as the person you will be in the future.
I also wish more people had told me it's okay to fail in college. While it's a shitty feeling, it's more often then not the reality of a situation. We have to be comfortable and prepared with the idea of failure. It lessens the blow and helps us get back on our feet to try again.
ReplyDeleteHello Gary,
ReplyDeleteI like your advice of participating in the non-academic side of the college experience. It is true that grades are not the only thing we should worry about in college. Grades do dictate a lot of our college career, but if there is time to gain more than a sterling GPA, it should be used to grow as person. Nice post.
-Ryan Bowler
Hello Gary!
ReplyDeleteI know how it feels to fail classes and it did not feel great. It definitely taught me to take what I can handle. But it also made me realize that there is room for mistakes in college, and it wasn't as cutthroat as people made it to be. Although clubs are kind of school related, I found a club here on campus that has really shaped me as a person. I also think that outside activities is really important for character. College is it's own little world, but when we leave that world, were going to enter reality, so might as well spend more time getting to know reality haha.
- Desiree Dagdag
Hi! I really like how you said you turned the negative feeling of failing a class into a positive optimistic feeling. Things won't always go as planned in the school setting but also in life. We just have to make the most of it and turn that situation into an opportunity for us.
ReplyDeleteHey Gary!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how real your blog was. I'm also an engineer and no one ever prepared me for the failure most professors set you up for. It is a rare treat that we get such a teacher that cares about concepts and not just crazy test, and for many students this is a breaking point. Learning to move on and keep trying speaks so much about your passions and dreams. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.
Hoi Gary,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how genuine this blog of yours was - I was an engineering major for a year and a half before I switched to computer science, so I definitely relate to the whole failing classes thing (EE204 was rough). I also liked your encouragement of pursuing extracurricular points of view. It's so important to balance your life life with your academic life.
I like the point you add at the end, that college is successful when you make a point of self-discovery.
ReplyDelete