To become someone, instead of becoming something.

I'm in an awesome class about moral development. AWESOME. For class today we were required to read this article challenging the current system of education. The following is an excerpt.


"In sum: all too often we focus on a narrow collection of well-defined tasks and train students to execute those tasks in a routine, if not algorithmic fashion. Then we test the students on tasks that are very close to the ones they have been taught. If they succeed on those problems, we and they congratulate each other on the fact that they have learned some powerful mathematical techniques. In fact, they may be able to use such techniques mechanically while lacking some rudimentary thinking skills. To allow them, and ourselves, to believe that they “understand” the mathematics is deceptive and fraudulent.

This approach to learning in math is paralleled in all other subjects. Most teachers got through their college classes mainly by “learning the standard textbook answers” and were neither given an opportunity nor encouraged to determine whether what the text or the professor said was “justified by their own thinking”. To move toward intellectual humility, most teachers need to question most of what they learned, as the teacher above did, but such questioning would require intellectual courage, perseverance, and confidence in their own capacity to reason and understand subject matter through their own thought. Most teachers have not done the kind of analytic thinking necessary for gaining such perspective.

I would generalize as follows: just as the development of intellectual humility is an essential goal of critical thinking instruction, so is the development of intellectual courage, integrity, empathy, perseverance, fair-mindedness, and confidence in reason. Furthermore, each intellectual (and moral) virtue in turn is richly developed only in conjunction with the others."

The article continues to criticize how we have a flawed education system. We teach to a test in a way that does not allow us to fully develop our intellect as human beings. There are moments in which even the best university is teaching to be something, instead of teaching to become someone.

I am truly grateful for the moments, teachers, and classes that have taught me to become.

On a lighter note, our professor summed up his lecture by showing this clip. Got to love an old man with a sense of humor right? 

Color Me Mine

"There are not more than five primary colors, yet in combination they can produce more hues than can ever be seen."

Grab life by the horns. Apply to grad schools you think are outrageous, drink diet coke, knock on a strangers door, and go to Hindu festivals. Life is way too short not to have experiences. Experiences are what makes your life colorful. Dance in your living room to awful music and leave a roommate a random note. I'm starting to understand and appreciate the "five-minute" moments that make life so fun. 

Grades are important, jobs must be worked, and responsibility doesn't go away but none of these matter if you aren't enjoying it. 

Thanks Hollywood House for reminding me how to live. 

Lost.

"Lost time is never found again." -Abe Lincoln

I'm at big girl school now I know but why on earth does it have to be so big? Anyone that knows me knows my directional skills are limited but who would have thought I could get so lost trying to find a flippin' class. No one calls the buildings here by their actual name but instead they all have trendy nicknames like the "swicket" or the "MOA." I swore that I knew where I was going when I looked at my schedule only to find after wondering the building for 20 minutes that room 250 didn't exist. Luckily I have a handful of friends and texted my go to gal for BYU info who directed me in the right direction. I got to the building 20 minutes after class started only to find that there are several students there but no professor? By this point I was so fed up with the whole process that I walked my happy cold butt to the HBLL (also known as the Harold B. Lee Library) and here I sit. 

Since I missed classes on Tuesday that makes me 0 for 2 with that class. A great start right? Suck.

P.S. I just received an email from my TA who explained to me that class was cancelled today. Ha! I'm not as ignorant as I seem!

Really?

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." 
-Mark Twain

This is an e-mail from my professor. 


Hi,
We'll go over the exam in class tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know how the scores will be adjusted, step by step:
1. take your percent score:
2. subtact it from 98:
3. divide the number in step 2 by 3.0 and round it:
4. add the number from step 3 to your percent score (from step 1):
5. add 2% to this total: this is your adjusted score.
Best wishes,
Ron C.

This is him. No further explanation needed.