Do not spend class wishing the time away.
Here’s why.
You're spending thousands of dollars a year to go to an institution of higher learning in hopes of achieving some sort of goal. I am not a person who believes that a college degree should determine one’s success automatically, but I do believe that everyone had a particular reason for going on to do so.
It may be because it was the dream your parents had for you. Maybe it was simply the dream you had for yourself. Regardless of why you chose to leave what you knew and head to a new place, you had a reason.
Do not forget that reason when you are being lectured on a lesson that is particularly boring to you.
Do not forget that reason when a professor challenges your beliefs.
Do not forget that reason when you earn a bad grade or decide a major is not for you.
College is not intended to be easy. The purpose of it is to learn; to grow as a person and find yourself among the differing views and opinions that you are surrounded by.
I would be lying if I said that I have never been discouraged by college. I have definitely had moments where I have considered what I could be doing instead. I have had moments when I have decided that college is not somewhere that I belong. In all honesty, though, when I think about the real reason I came to college, those negative thoughts go away, because I went to college to learn.
How unique of me to say, right? But seriously, I went to college to be able to view the world from a multitude of different angles, to learn about my beliefs, and to figure life out. I did not go to college for the pride of being able to hang a diploma on the wall of a future office, I did not go to college to be able to say I am on Dean’s List or to say I am part of an Honor Society. While those are great perks to be had, that is not what is most important to me. I do strive for good grades, but that is not what is most important to me.
What is most important to me is that I learn from any situation I am in. If that lecture is boring, I learn to respect the professor’s reasoning and passion behind the lesson. Why? Because somewhere, there is a reason they obtained a doctorate degree in that subject, even though on the surface it may seem boring to me. They sat in a classroom just like any other college student at one time, and somewhere along the line, they decided to sit there for a lot more years in order to teach classes on it. If that does not scream passion, then I do not know what does.
When someone challenges my beliefs, I learn to be thankful that someone listened to my beliefs for enough time to be able to challenge them. I learn to not feel inferior because someone is challenging my thoughts, but rather to explain my thoughts and be open to theirs. If you can learn to discuss your beliefs with the absence of anger, then you will be a much more productive citizen.
If I earn a bad grade, I learn what not to do the next time around. When something goes wrong, I calmly remind myself that it is a learning experience. As Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed, I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” He did not give up creating something important because of his struggles, he used his failures to learn, and eventually, he still created the light bulb. Though, I hope no one fails at something ten thousand times.
If I decide that a major is not for me, I choose to look at it as me learning who I want to be and what I want to do instead of worrying that I wasted time. Time is something you cannot get back, so there is no sense worrying about it. Instead, you have to learn to appreciate that you realized what you want to do instead. Figuring that out in itself is an accomplishment.
No matter what the reason YOU went to college was, do not forget it when you have moments that discourage you. Some force or reason caused you to make that decision, and what matters is that you strive to learn something.
Do not spend class wishing the time away.
