Homework and Papers and Tests! Oh My!!

Welcome to the riveting world of science, and mathematics, and technology, and some of the arts, and a dash of history and politics, and everything else you can possibly cram into the widely encompassing word B-I-O-L-O-G-Y.  Who knew there was so much to it?  Not to mention the other fun (and the not so fun) things associated with the college life.  As you’ve figured out by now, it ain’t all easy.  Is it rewarding and worth the struggle?  As Sarah Palin would say, “You betcha!”   But is it easy?  Let’s be for real; it’s not even close.

As I peer into my metaphorical crystal ball, I would say that 98% of you have felt your head roaring like a tornado in Kansas at least once already this semester.  If you haven’t felt it yet, just wait. It’s coming. I’d even wager that most of you have even had a panic-stricken, near myocardial-infarction feeling of, “What is wrong with me? I made straight A’s in high school and I NEVER cracked a book! Now I am actually studying and barely scraping by! ” Am I right? Now, before you plummet into an abyss of calc-based equations, papers on Flannery O’Conner’s influence, and all of the tenets of the cell theory, allow me to calm your fevered mind by informing you that this feeling is absolutely normal. And the even better news is this:  there are relatively easy things you can do to master your college courses.  Studies have shown that some of the methods I will blog about can raise your grade a whole letter if you practice them faithfully.  However, in order for them to work, you must do two fairly difficult things:  swallow your pride, and learn some self-discipline.

Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist and academic, observed:  “Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.”  Yikes!

But I like the way Winston Churchill says it best, “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” We enjoy quenching our curiosity, but it loses its charm when a 3^rd party determines what we should be curious about and how well (on an academic scale) we “quenched” it.  Did I hear an Amen?

However, to conclude the quotation portion, keep this adage in mind above the others:  “What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.” If your post-college goal is valuable, you must fight for it or someone else will. Nobody gets a philosophical free lunch; you will get out of your college experience what you put into it.  The more effort you apply now, the more rewards you’ll reap as you move towards your ultimate destination.

So how do you know you can trust me? I know because I was a biology student at Georgia College not so long ago for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, not to mention all my biology friends who were mired in there with me.  Then—for the proof of the pudding—I taught freshmen biology students who had the same issues that I and my comrades had experienced years ago.  From a teacher’s perspective, I witnessed the methods that worked (and bombed) for the typical Kathy Kollege.  Not only did we all survive (at least the ones willing to work), but we thrived!  And now, I want to pass on some of that sweet, sound college-survival wisdom on to you.  After all, I work for the Center for Student Success. It’s my business to make sure you are well equipped to grab the collegiate bull by the…well, whatever appendage you feel comfortable grabbing.  Let’s begin, shall we?