During my last semester, I took an Intermediate Spanish course as part of completing my minor. As finals week approached, my professor asked us, “What were some of the things you liked and disliked about the course?”

We answered with the generic “I didn’t enjoy the homework or using the textbook.” However, one student answered, “I really enjoyed our class discussions and how you as a teacher weren’t as focused on our grades but instead making sure we were learning things and taking something new from each class.”

I think sometimes with academics, we can get too wrapped up with grades and doing well that we forget what the whole purpose of learning really is. According to Dictionary.com, learning means "to acquire knowledge of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience."

My professor lectured us on how she doesn’t believe in making her class difficult for a reason. She believes that when you make a class too hard, the students aren’t focused on really learning, but instead just getting an A or something pleasing to them. Instead, she grades more on participation and how much you try to learn something new. Every class she would ask us “Cinco Palabras” or “Five New Words” which only encouraged us to reflect on what we actually learned that day. I thoroughly enjoyed her teaching style and although the class wasn’t necessarily hard, I learned that you can learn from an easy class and that’s what I did. When she corrected us on speaking or writing, it made me remember not to make that mistake next time and therefore I took little things out of each class.

Learning is so important each and everyday, whether it’s in the classroom or just in everyday life. Whether it’s an easy task from the first time learning how to tie a shoelace to a hard concept of learning how to do calculus, we will always be acquiring new information and it only helps make life that much more interesting. We need to learn that not everything is about grades but instead putting in the effort and making sure we’re taking something out of everything we do in or outside the classroom.