College Stomps All Over Interests

[Rebe]

I have heard this before but never believed it. I like getting grades on my written pieces and seeing myself improve and be given specific tasks to accomplish since I am so, so unstructured.

I used to be an English major until I tried it and I grew extremely tired of the formal classes - some of it was irrelevant, some of it was inaccurate, dull, etc.

Now I am taking political science classes which has left me without interest once I am done with the classes because I am done and still figuring out the complete bombardment of information. Somehow college courses just takes the fun out of previous raw passion. Not to say that I will change my major, but something I heard but never believed.

 

[Snuggletron]

Every time I've heard this notion get voiced it gets criticized. Maybe college is what you make of it, and maybe I'm making it wrong but I share your concern. College is a boring institution that doesn't really stimulate learning or staying with your interests (especially if they are english, art, or any other "useless" area of formal education). Instead it is just the default hurdle most people jump for the sake of their future careers. In my observation, that is.

Before information could be transferred so quickly by means of satellites and the internet I could see the benefit of sitting in a lecture room listening to a professor on something you wanted to learn. Now pretty much any curiosity I have can be satisfied by quick self-research.

 

[Lasting_Pain]

I have heard this before but never believed it. I like getting grades on my written pieces and seeing myself improve and be given specific tasks to accomplish since I am so, so unstructured.

I used to be an English major until I tried it and I grew extremely tired of the formal classes - some of it was irrelevant, some of it was inaccurate, dull, etc.

Now I am taking political science classes which has left me without interest once I am done with the classes because I am done and still figuring out the complete bombardment of information. Somehow college courses just takes the fun out of previous raw passion. Not to say that I will change my major, but something I heard but never believed.

Psychology and Philosophy, those two fields are deep and reek of untapped knowledge.

 

[Laurie]

Leave liberal arts.

 

[simulatedworld]

Every time I've heard this notion get voiced it gets criticized. Maybe college is what you make of it, and maybe I'm making it wrong but I share your concern. College is a boring institution that doesn't really stimulate learning or staying with your interests (especially if they are english, art, or any other "useless" area of formal education). Instead it is just the default hurdle most people jump for the sake of their future careers. In my observation, that is.

Before information could be transferred so quickly by means of satellites and the internet I could see the benefit of sitting in a lecture room listening to a professor on something you wanted to learn. Now pretty much any curiosity I have can be satisfied by quick self-research.

Great post, totally agree.

 

[gromit]

How would you prefer to learn about something, Rebe? Is there a way you can apply that to the classes you have or refocus the learning to fit your personal learning style a little better?

I liked some parts of college more than others.

I particularly liked classes more where there was a strong hands-on aspect to the learning, like we'd get to learn by doing. And I liked classes where I felt a personal connection to the professor. The best would be a combination of both. Professor introduces a process or idea and then we get to try out the process on our own and ask questions if we get stuck. That is my favorite way to learn (difficult material at least).

I did not like the standard lecture/problem set style as much (this was for engineering classes). I loooved my creative writing class because we read aloud to one another in small groups and had the opportunity to actually get to know other people in the class.


So, for me (preferring connection and hands-on learning), if I had time, I would try to go to office hours occasionally or talk to the professor after class, just so that I could feel more connected. Or I would try to do the problem along with the professor or something like that.

Also, the routine and structure sort of killed me. I think I cried so much in college, though, and wondered what the hell I was trying to do, going after this degree. I cried more in college than at any other point in my life before or after.

If I REALLY did not feel like going to class I just wouldn't, and would do something fun or relaxing instead. As long as it was only impacting myself, then I just did what I wanted and didn't even feel guilty about it. But I tried not to make a habit of it.

 

[Lasting_Pain]

Every time I've heard this notion get voiced it gets criticized. Maybe college is what you make of it, and maybe I'm making it wrong but I share your concern. College is a boring institution that doesn't really stimulate learning or staying with your interests (especially if they are english, art, or any other "useless" area of formal education). Instead it is just the default hurdle most people jump for the sake of their future careers. In my observation, that is.

Before information could be transferred so quickly by means of satellites and the internet I could see the benefit of sitting in a lecture room listening to a professor on something you wanted to learn. Now pretty much any curiosity I have can be satisfied by quick self-research.

That is the point, if you know that college does not suit your interests then why go to college and instead find a particular school that suits your wants and needs. Just because the college does not cater to your desires does not mean that the school is inadequate or boring.

 

[Rebe]

Oh, I didn't mean I dislike the college institution in the broad sense, though I do agree with some critiques of it, that it is a useless hurdle for certain careers and who ever actually applies most of the information anyway.

What I am talking about is just specifically that what once used to be a fun, spontaneous, passionate interest, when chosen in college to be your primary courses, I lose some that passion, though I can't say exactly why.

How would you prefer to learn about something, Rebe? Is there a way you can apply that to the classes you have or refocus the learning to fit your personal learning style a little better?

I do enjoy my discussion based classes, and I enjoyed my classes the majority of the time, which is a lot compared to high school when I listened 1/3 of the time. I enjoyed the assignments and the topics, I really did, it provided interesting material I wouldn't come across on a daily basis.

But, it just loses that ... spark. I guess, since I plan on doing all this work in school, I may as well wait for courses to begin than do additional work on my own when I used to do a lot of research on my own, for fun.

 

[Lasting_Pain]

Before information could be transferred so quickly by means of satellites and the internet I could see the benefit of sitting in a lecture room listening to a professor on something you wanted to learn. Now pretty much any curiosity I have can be satisfied by quick self-research.

Some scholars will argue the internet and the digital era is the cause of why students find college boring and uninteresting.

 

[Lasting_Pain]

Oh, I didn't mean I dislike the college institution in the broad sense, though I do agree with some critiques of it, that it is a useless hurdle for certain careers and who ever actually applies most of the information anyway.

What I am talking about is just specifically that what once used to be a fun, spontaneous, passionate interest, when chosen in college to be your primary courses, I lose some that passion, though I can't say exactly why.



I do enjoy my discussion based classes, and I enjoyed my classes the majority of the time, which is a lot compared to high school when I listened 1/3 of the time. I enjoyed the assignments and the topics, I really did, it provided interesting material I wouldn't come across on a daily basis.

But, it just loses that ... spark. I guess, since I plan on doing all this work in school, I may as well wait for courses to begin than do additional work on my own when I used to do a lot of research on my own, for fun.

You are now witnessing the tragedy of romanticizing.

 

[Rebe]

True.

 

[Lasting_Pain]

True.

The show is over folks. We can all go home now. Please exit to your vehicles and have a safe trip home.

 

[Snuggletron]

That is the point, if you know that college does not suit your interests then why go to college and instead find a particular school that suits your wants and needs.

Yes, the point is about your future career and income. I guess this path is so popular and is made out to be a necessity that I could not see any other way as a senior in high school. I will look for other options soon, however, most of my wants and needs in terms of education seem to be fulfilled through personal research and practice.

Just because the college does not cater to your desires does not mean that the school is inadequate or boring.

I guess it's not entirely inadequate, there are some subjects that are learned best and only from a teacher. The rest of it you can just google. College (as in the classes, not the "experience") is still for the most part, boring. It's a tried and true method for earning a degree that makes you look special, but otherwise it's dull and in need of a makeover.

 

[bcvcdc]

I cried more in college than at any other point in my life before or after.

me too. rumors that flew around in high school followed me there and flew just as goddamn high. you know...

 

[spin-1/2-nuclei]

For me personally undergrad was far from boring and I absolutely love grad school accept for the extremely long hours. Overall I think the value taken from the college experience depends on the individual person and what your interests are.

There are definitely too many people going to college today just because they think it's something they should do to get a better job. It's really not that useful to go to college for a better job when there are trade schools that you can attend and graduate with the ability to make more money than you could make leaving college with some of the liberal arts degrees.

I went to college knowing exactly what I wanted to major in and I loved and still love every bit of being active in those fields. If you aren't going to college to study something you love then it might be a waste of time for you. Sometimes people change their minds too and there isn't anything wrong with that, but in my opinion if you're going to college and you're bored you might want to reevaluate why you're there and either change your major or leave... just my two-cents.

 

[Oberon]

I have heard this before but never believed it. I like getting grades on my written pieces and seeing myself improve and be given specific tasks to accomplish since I am so, so unstructured.

I used to be an English major until I tried it and I grew extremely tired of the formal classes - some of it was irrelevant, some of it was inaccurate, dull, etc.

Now I am taking political science classes which has left me without interest once I am done with the classes because I am done and still figuring out the complete bombardment of information. Somehow college courses just takes the fun out of previous raw passion. Not to say that I will change my major, but something I heard but never believed.

Oh, and another thing... you will never have more liesure time in your life than you do right now, while you're in college. That is, not until you retire, and maybe not even then.

Yeah, I didn't believe it either, but it's true.

 

[Randomnity]

If you want to learn about all sorts of random things, that's what the internet and libraries are for.

College is intended to prepare you for a job, in general. An English degree, probably not as much, but...yeah. If you don't like college, you'll probably not like the job it's preparing you for, either.

 

[gromit]

If you want to learn about all sorts of random things, that's what the internet and libraries are for.

College is intended to prepare you for a job, in general.

Yeah, I think my parents drilled it into our heads pretty strongly that college is for learning a particular skill set to better qualify you for a job. I guess I internalized it enough that I didn't really get the chance to feel idealistic about it.

 

[Stanton Moore]

I could tell that the poster was an INFP just by the title.

 

[Rebe]

^ wow that's some skill.