We are taught from an early age to make our brains sponge-like, to absorb and regurgitate all the facts and definitions that are fed to us, but we cannot be expected to continue on like this for the entirety of our academic careers. Common memories of the kindergarten years involve finger paints, hopscotch and learning our ABCs. This is the time when the infamous flashcard-style games with an “A” for Apple made their first appearances, giving us our earliest experiences with repetition and memorization.
The teaching methods that stress rote memorization have accompanied many of us from primary school playground to the complex social order of high school, but do these practices belong in college?
The issue is whether or not we, as community college students, are being sufficiently prepared for transferring or future careers. We’re noticing that more and more Pierce College professors teach their classes directly from the book, without any real deliberation on the information’s pertinence to reality.However, there are teachers who realize the value of students actually understanding what we are learning and use methods which rely less on the textbook and focus more on learning through the Socratic method.
College is supposed to be the time when we become critical thinkers by learning to integrate new information with what we already know and then express them together. Moreover, once we make use of these critical thinking skills, our minds will no longer need to rely on the tedious tasks of memorization, which we forget shortly after anyway.
At this level of education, it is our responsibility as students to decide whether or not we want to learn, and in many classes we are given the option of whether or not to attend class.If all of the information is straight from the text, what is the point of attendance?
Anyone can read a book, memorize material and take a test on it; the real test is what comes next — the things we must draw upon once we leave Pierce. It is impractical for us to expect a blanket of blind information, good grades and a degree to carry us into our futures. No employer is going to hire us because we can name the dates of the Civil War; however, we might be asked how that knowledge can be applied to everyday life.
Instructors need to acknowledge the fact that college is not high school. It is time to discuss in depth how to apply what we learn as we are learning it.
Changing our thought process as students may appear too difficult or almost unnecessary from our current viewpoint, but it is better to begin making little sprint-style adjustments now, rather than be met by an unmanageable marathon once we enter the work force.
The brunt of this can’t be placed solely upon the shoulders of our teachers. Students need to read the information before class so that topics can be discussed in greater detail and met with informed opinions. While it sounds nice in theory, a lot of students fail to bring a pen, paper and even themselves to class.
What teachers can do is encourage their classes not just to regurgitate, but also re-evaluate the new information and form their own opinions. When college learning is posed in a more mature, stimulating manner, one that allows us to integrate new facts with what we already know and discuss the two in relation, we will be better primed for success.
()