Wednesday, September 8, 2004, 7:29PM
In a classroom of around 30 people, fluorescent lights beam down on me. After my first coffee of the day I am jittery, but my attention is devoted to my professor. He speaks to the room and says "we cannot afford to be bored". Life is too short to be bored. If you do not engage yourself you will suffer from boredom, and it isn't worth it. This is Psychology 108. The subject is Applied Problem Solving, and I am all ears.
It is amazing that throughout my entire learning experience I have never been taught how to think. Of course I can think, I'm often told I think too hard, but with the knowledge provided, my thoughts become much more powerful. The course involves learning to apply knowledge, to evaluate the situation, and to be critical. Think of all the propaganda thrown at us every day: it is up to us to decide what we wish to obtain from this. We choose wether or not we wish to be manipulated, and what we wish to consume. There are many things we would never believe we needed if it wasn't for commercials. It is these advertisements that convince us that we would be undesirable without their products. I thought my room smelt fine, but will others be more impressed if I have a Glad plug-it in?
After class I made my way to the second hand bookstore, and with a hefty reduced price of fifty-three dollars I had my psychology text book, 'THOUGHT & KNOWLEDGE' by Diane E. Halpern. Making my way through the introduction, my older brother Brendan comes to mind. He is a deep thinker and applies most of the critical thinking explored in the book. He has even reverberated some of the quotes. I have no doubt he would be as interested in the course's material as I am, if not more so. We will have to have some heavy discussions next time we see each other.
My favorite thing about university so far is how real it is. The material being taught is applicable to real life, and therefore much more interesting. My journalism teacher scares the shit out of me, but she is honest, she writes for the Toronto Star, and she knows what it takes to be a journalist. My English teacher cut class short and talked about how we all needed coffee, one of the basic food groups. We are not being babysit anymore, we are being taught, and best of all, we are ready to learn.
It is amazing that throughout my entire learning experience I have never been taught how to think. Of course I can think, I'm often told I think too hard, but with the knowledge provided, my thoughts become much more powerful. The course involves learning to apply knowledge, to evaluate the situation, and to be critical. Think of all the propaganda thrown at us every day: it is up to us to decide what we wish to obtain from this. We choose wether or not we wish to be manipulated, and what we wish to consume. There are many things we would never believe we needed if it wasn't for commercials. It is these advertisements that convince us that we would be undesirable without their products. I thought my room smelt fine, but will others be more impressed if I have a Glad plug-it in?
After class I made my way to the second hand bookstore, and with a hefty reduced price of fifty-three dollars I had my psychology text book, 'THOUGHT & KNOWLEDGE' by Diane E. Halpern. Making my way through the introduction, my older brother Brendan comes to mind. He is a deep thinker and applies most of the critical thinking explored in the book. He has even reverberated some of the quotes. I have no doubt he would be as interested in the course's material as I am, if not more so. We will have to have some heavy discussions next time we see each other.
My favorite thing about university so far is how real it is. The material being taught is applicable to real life, and therefore much more interesting. My journalism teacher scares the shit out of me, but she is honest, she writes for the Toronto Star, and she knows what it takes to be a journalist. My English teacher cut class short and talked about how we all needed coffee, one of the basic food groups. We are not being babysit anymore, we are being taught, and best of all, we are ready to learn.
posted by Gillian Young at 7:29 PM
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