Well, not technically. I still have the weekend until college starts. That means I have a few frantic days to freak out about doing school before I actually start school (time that could be spent getting ahead). Still, I haven't been in 'real' school for over a year. Now I'm jumping into a full-time college schedule, and one of my classes is a 300 class which includes (are you ready?) sentence diagramming.
I am not kidding. This is going to be a long semester.
The funny thing is, I really should know this stuff. Sentence diagramming is basically just knowing grammar. Grammar for an author is like anatomy for a veterinarian. It's basically the most important part of the job. So I am freaking out not only that I have to take this class and dissect sentences, but that I don't know how to do this in the first place.
Which is pretty stupid. I am going to college in order to learn. If I knew all this stuff going in to college then I wouldn't have to go! I'd be smart enough to skip higher education entirely. The entire reason I am taking classes is for learning.
This takes me to my point: education is for learning. Not for passing tests. If all I get out of my college classes is how to pass a test, then I have failed the class regardless of my grade. The point of education is learning.
This is a problem that happens to me even when I am out of school. I want to read all these books so I can say, "I've read Shakespeare" or "I've read Dante" without actually caring about what the authors have to say. Reading lots does nothing for me if I am not learning from the book.
So that's my reminder to myself (and to whoever else needs it): use education as a chance for learning, not just for passing tests. Use reading as a chance for learning, or entertainment, not just for bragging rights. Because who cares what I've read, the point of reading is because I want to. Reading is for me, not for someone else.
This is a problem that happens to me even when I am out of school. I want to read all these books so I can say, "I've read Shakespeare" or "I've read Dante" without actually caring about what the authors have to say. Reading lots does nothing for me if I am not learning from the book.
So that's my reminder to myself (and to whoever else needs it): use education as a chance for learning, not just for passing tests. Use reading as a chance for learning, or entertainment, not just for bragging rights. Because who cares what I've read, the point of reading is because I want to. Reading is for me, not for someone else.
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