So I just got back from my Media Ethics mid-term. I think I did decent to my usual standards (anything over 75% is alright with me) but lately I’m starting to change how I feel about education in general.
When I was younger I wanted to just get by the course. Hey, I wanted a decent mark also, but I lived my life according to scoring well on an exam.
But what about the knowledge gained? I don’t know…I have to admit that sometimes I didn’t really care about the knowledge. Or, at the very least, I didn’t even think about it. I just went to class, heard what the professor had to say and then studied for the test.
Tonight I hit upon a question about a Supreme Court case that I didn’t have a good grasp on. In the end, I probably bombed the question, but I’m not really concerned with the actual mark. I am concerned that I don’t have a grasp on the subject matter – in this case, the outcome of the Supreme Court case I was reading. Heck, maybe my legalese is pretty well non-existent so it’s hard to understand it all after reading 20 pages.
So, there you have it. I have realized that I have finally become a student who wishes to absorb knowledge. In my view, I don’t believe sending teenagers to school is necessarily the best idea. I’m not saying that I didn’t retain what I learned in college. I did. Maybe not the specifics (Hey, how do I do a FOR Loop in C++ programming language again? Hmm…off the top of my head I believe it’s (for i=0;i<10;i++), hey, I actually think that's right! I'll have to check that out later. I actually just impressed myself!), but I have a greater appreciation for education than I did 10 years ago. I believe this is the secret Rick has discovered as he pretty well hasn't left the school life and I doubt he ever will. One word Mr. MacLeod - Professor.