Now that exams are finished and students have had time to enjoy their holiday break, I think it would be good to reflect on all that we have accomplished over the past semester and things we could still improve on. Let's be real, college is hard, and pretending like it's not just sets you up for failure. Weather you are barley passing your classes or you have straight A's, college is still challenging af. One thing I believe all college students, myself included, need to improve on is confidence in their abilities.
Chances are, if you are a college student, you have probably said something about how you bullshit your homework or how you are really good at bullshit-ing papers. Many students say this to indicate that they put zero effort into completing their school work, or that they waited until the last minute so all they could do was bullshit. If we are being honest with ourselves, sometimes we just don't have the energy to put in 100 percent effort on every assignment, but what I noticed myself doing was saying these phrases even when I had actually tried on a paper. Even when I had put in a significant amount of work on a paper, I still found myself saying that I simply bullshit-ed the entire assignment.
I came to the conclusion that I, and many others, were saying these phrases for a couple important reasons. First, I believe college students say they bullshit school work as a means of self-preservation. If you can convince yourself that you did not put in any effort, then you can spare yourself the disappointment when, or if, you get a bad grade. Let me tell you, I've gotten back some graded assignments that made me question my own intelligence. It's not a good feeling. If we can pretend like we didn't try or that we simply don't care, then it hurts a little less. Second, we don't want to seem like we are trying too hard. There is nothing wrong with putting in effort, especially if you are struggling. It is okay that we cannot make everything seem effortless, we don't have to.
I was walking out of class with my English professor my first semester of college, and we were talking about a paper we just got back. He told me I did well on the assignment, and, of course, my response was that I just b.s.-ed most of it (because you can talk to college professors like that). He just rolled his eyes and laughed, and said or you are actually smart. Holy shit. It may seem like such a simple thing to say, but it literally blew my mind. College students spend copious amounts of time wondering if they are actually intelligent enough to make it through each semester, and having someone blatantly say it was a bit of a shocker.
So, what if we actually know what we're doing? What if we might actually know what we're talking about when we write a paper? What if, somewhere along the way, we actually learned something? Instead of selling ourselves short, we should admit and be proud of how much work we are putting into our school work because we do try really hard.
To all college students out there, stop saying you bullshit your assignments. Stop down playing your hard work, and start being proud of the fact that you might actually know what your're doing.
