I didn’t read anything over break. Well, I take that back; I did read some things over break – several movie synopses, the back of a box of Reeses Puffs and an online quiz that told me which Clueless outfit is most like my personality- but nothing important.
Now normally when I manage to accomplish nothing but laziness and slovenliness, I am at least somewhat proud. This time, though, I only felt disappointed.
After much thought and a fear-mongering WebMD search, I have decided that I was tired. Too tired to even look at the back cover of a book, much less actually learn something. And therein lies my disappointment; I used to have a love and curious need for learning but lately it feels like something I just have to do.
Let me clarify something, though, as I am sure you can all see where this editorial is heading. I love Tech. I do well under its constant pressure and I appreciate the student and adult it is turning me in to.
I do believe that, especially in this economy, there is a need for skills based, “you need to know this or your employer will hate you,” almost hazing-like, learning.
I am not saying that I had wish I had gone to a much too expensive and too lackadaisical liberal arts college. All I am saying is that I, personally, need to find a balance.
Over break I did manage to go to the dentist (It took a surprising amount of effort to pry myself from my bed). As I was sitting there, trying to keep up a stinted conversation with said dentist as he had his hand in my mouth, I saw something on the television in the corner of the room. Some children’s documentary was on about the rainforests of Canada…and I was fascinated. I did not know there were rainforests in Canada—or more likely, I had once known there were rainforests in Canada but that 7th grade life science information had been put aside to make room for calculus and chemical equations.
I have told just about everyone I know about these rainforests in Canada. Heck, I am writing an entire editorial about them (sort of). And that is the feeling I want back. The feeling that learning is exciting and point of view changing and something more than just drudgery or “hey that was almost interesting” or even more likely “I am going to forget this as soon as I take the exam.”
Maybe there is a simple solution to my problem. Maybe what I am looking for is a different elective or a nap or the willpower to watch something other than Project Runway when I can’t sleep at night.
I am not usually one for New Year’s resolutions but I do think that this editorial comes pretty close to one. And I hope that at the end of this semester, I will have some other fact to share with guys than that bears eat over two million calories in the months before they hibernate. But for now, that’s all I got.