Currently Reading: Desperate Characters by Paula Fox. Also, I highly recommend my last book, The Secret History. It was wonderful.
Just Wednesday, I watched a video on the concept of the “rogue academic.” It proposes a mindset shift for students of the broken educational system. Without having a name to the ideal, I’ve always tried to emulate this mentality. It puts the emphasis of education on understanding, learning, and development, rather than the “checked boxes” of GPAs, tests, and degrees. He proposes this mindset should be applied in all aspects of life and academics. For example, if one were to receive a poor grade on a test, then this would not define your academic level, it only would allow you to understand your opportunities for improvement and where you should dedicate more time to acquiring further knowledge. The overall picture is this: always be in pursuit of learning.
I love this idea. My friend always says to me, “Violet, you were designed for school. You just love to learn. I don’t get it?!” And she’s right in some sense, I do love to learn. But, the education system in this country is not designed to promote learners. It is designed to promote test-takers and high-rankers. Now, I’m only talking in general terms here; there is still a world of classes (like this one), teachers, and students who don’t force these standardized values. They too promote learning simply to learn. But, it is within our overall system that I see the most flaws, and that’s what infuriates me.
As I study within this system, I have no choice but to value my grades and my mere numerical status. The GPA that I receive now, will be reviewed by a committee to determine my acceptance into medical schools four years down the road. That thought terrifies me, but it is simply the truth. And so, I work hard, I try my best to get good grades, and in most cases, I succeed, but through it all, I try to learn. Because that is all I can do.
So why am I ranting about this now? Well, empty void that is my laptop screen, I got a, let’s say, not so good grade this week. And while I just rattled on and on about why you shouldn’t put too much pressure on your grades, I’ll admit, it wasn’t the most pleasant feeling. To be fair, 80% of my entire lab did just as terribly. It was a difficult and confusing assignment and I blame whoever’s great idea it was to have a biology lab virtually. But that’s aside from the point. I have an unpleasant history of putting too much pressure on myself to succeed academically, but I’m working on it. My parents love when I do badly on an assignment; they say it’s “good for me,” and I guess in a sense, it is. So, I will take this bad grade (submit the rewrite because why not), and move on with my life. It is just an “opportunity for improvement.”
Well… 500 hundred words later and I have still neglected to mention how this week went is psychopathology. It was fun. End of story.
Just kidding! I was very intrigued by this week’s reading and I would love to read more of Sacks’ works. As I said in my discussion post, he “is a medical man and an artist.” As I am fond of both medicine and art, his writing style stuck out to me. I loved exploring his use of fictional literary tools in a non-fiction setting, and I was inspired, should I become a physician, to one day do the same. I’ll have to emphasize the second “O” in Doolittle, though. I don’t need the world anticipating some new adaptation of Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle.
Well, empty void that is my laptop screen, it was nice chatting with you. And for anyone who’s having a rough week, here’s a picture of a puppy. Enjoy!
