education

School.  I've been thinking about it lately.

Being a teaching major, I've been talking and hearing a lot lately about motivation in school, and sometimes it's hard to imagine that there are students who really refuse to try because they don't see the importance, or because of another of a million reasons.

It's at those times that I realize that I now believe education can be fun and important.

All through school, I was a smart kid.  Not always the smart kid, but sometimes.  And when people would talk about how much they hated school, someone would always say, "Not Alison! She loves school!" which I would indignantly (and truthfully) refute.  Just because I made good grades, I would say, did not mean I liked it.  And I didn't.

My freshman year at college, I didn't know how to study.  I squandered too much time talking about not liking classes and wondering why I had to take some of them.  This repeated during my sophomore year, although I tried harder to try.  Finally, second semester of junior year, I wised up and took a class that taught me how to study.  As a result, college has easy-ed up immensely.  I was thinking today that I wished I hadn't slacked off the first little while, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have ended up where I am today.

As I was walking down the hall last night after my Thursday night class, I was genuinely disappointed that I had just finished the last session of the semester.  And if someone said now, "Not Alison! She loves school!" they would be much less wrong than before.  I don't love all of school, but I'm getting closer to really loving the learning part of it.  Difficult classes can be fun because it's exciting when you "get it."  Reading means I'll understand class.  (That's a lesson you learn get until you actually try to get something from the reading before class.)  Schoolwork this semester has been very purposeful = less boring.

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is.  Perhaps just to get my thoughts out so I can think them clearly.  But if it needs a moral, let it be this: Let yourself like school.  Let yourself like learning.  You just might be surprised how much you like it if you let yourself try.

And to all of you who still think it's cool to say you hate school (or whose friends do): You will be ahead now and later if you stop saying that and start letting yourself believe learning is good.  I know I am.