Saturday, May 9, 2009

Restless

I've been studying ALL DAY...I am pretty over it right now. I have plans tomorrow and a two chapter test and "role play" test for Japanese Monday. So instead of going anywhere, I have been slaving away in my room. It was raining for nearly four days straight during golden week...so of course today was really sunny and the weather looked great outside. *sigh*

What a sad weekend I've had so far. Friday night I was working on my senior synth project. And all day today studying for Japanese. I know it will probably be like this until I finish up my class at SU next month. I have a good amount of work to do before then.

Realized today that I study probably the worst way possible for Japanese. We always have daily homework that I try to finish as fast as possible. I never read the grammar notes that we are supposed to for class. AND I don't really review anything until it comes to preparing for tests. Lol, it may be an okay way to pass, but this isn't the best way to actually learn anything. This may explain why a lot of the Japanese hasn't stuck with me. After the test, I am going to attempt to change my study habits, but I know its gonna be hard.

For the last 15 years, I have measured my academic success on grades, rather than the amount of material I learned. Its a sad realization I have come to in my last term taking classes. In some ways I see how the school system's reliance on grades breeds mindsets like mine. And if we were to rate my performance in terms of grades, I have done well. I was never the type of person to skip class all the time and I almost always finish the entirety of assigned readings (no matter how boring they are). But realistically, how much do I remember? Sadly, not much. Scholastic information was stored in the short-term section of my memory and always mentally disposed of at the end of each quarter.

Finally, and its about time, I can admit I like classes. I have never been a person who was thrilled to go to school. But I have recently begun to appreciate learning (of course it depends heavily on the subject and professor!) Some people love computers, math, or sciences. For me it's always been about humanities. Its not a field that will is going to make you a lot of money, but I figure you might as well pursue what you enjoy. Between international studies and journalism, I have truly loved some of the classes I've had thus far. Currently with my anthro classes here, I enjoy the readings and even look forward to lectures.

Its easy to get bogged down with all the hw and assignments. But its an opportunity to EVEN have the chance to go to school, much less college. This is something I need to remind myself more. There is no excuse for studying half-heartedly. Education is not something to be taken for granted and it should not be wasted.

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