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I’ve now finished 223 credits for my undergraduate business, law, & LLM degrees. I’ve now completed my last class of my life. In celebration of finally graduating from school, here are my personal takeaways from a lifetime of being a student from Kindergarten through now:
1. My best teachers in my life had 5 things in common: (1) a great sense of humor, (2) displayed energy every day, (3) were nice to students as long as they were given respect in return, (4) got to know their students on a personal level, & (5) were fair graders.
2. It is the teacher or professor’s job to keep the attention of the students. I’ve noticed that most teachers who forbade technology, like laptops for example, had to do so because students were looking for distractions because they were not engaged with the lectures.
If hand notes were only allowed, students would doodle and text under their laps. I’ve come to realize it wasn’t their fault. These teachers were mostly dry in delivering their content. My best teachers didn’t really care how we took notes, but their enthusiasm kept...
...students’ attention.
3. Powerpoints are great supplements. If teachers rely on them solely, students will struggle to retain all of the information.
4. Grading on a curve is stupid. If every student learned what they needed to learn, everyone deserves an A. The reality...
3. Powerpoints are great supplements. If teachers rely on them solely, students will struggle to retain all of the information.
4. Grading on a curve is stupid. If every student learned what they needed to learn, everyone deserves an A. The reality...
...is that most teachers don’t have the unique ability to elevate their students to a level where they earn an A in the first place, or the subject is too difficult to demand that from every student. But grades should be individually determined, not based on how much better...
...you know than your peers. You either know the material or you don’t. The grey area is what the letter grades are for. I feel extremely strongly about this.
5. Post-high school, students pay for their own courses. Professors GET paid. How they choose to consume your content...
5. Post-high school, students pay for their own courses. Professors GET paid. How they choose to consume your content...
..., except for classroom distractions, should be their business. If they don’t want to pay attention, they’re risking their own money and careers. If we’re going to pay grown-up money to go to school we should be allowed to make grown-up decisions with how we use it.
6. Reading the textbook is much less important than finding out what the professor wants you to know. The key to this is often finding someone smarter than you to help you study, or at least provide you notes to consume the information. Is this fair? No. It’s just how it is.
7. College & post-graduate schools aren’t kind to the antisocial unless you’re an excellent note-taker and/or a brilliant test-taker.
8. Dorm rooms are unhealthy by being too small. Everyone gets sick too much.
9. In general, attendance policies are too strict given that...
8. Dorm rooms are unhealthy by being too small. Everyone gets sick too much.
9. In general, attendance policies are too strict given that...
...students pay for their own education. There are guidelines to passing and failing the class. Create grading incentives for attendance. But don’t punish students who are legitimately sick. That just gets everyone else sick & is hard on handicapped & immunocompromised students.
10. Tuition is way too expensive to put it lightly. Calling students immediately after graduation to donate is insulting. Don’t call us, we paid enough. At least give us time to make up for it.
11. Much of what you learn in school outside of specialized courses for your...
11. Much of what you learn in school outside of specialized courses for your...
...degrees is useless to most students. Students want to know why what they’re learning is applicable to the real world and are rarely given answers.
12. Financial literacy, taxes, & basic life skills are not taught at any level of schooling & it hurts our society.
12. Financial literacy, taxes, & basic life skills are not taught at any level of schooling & it hurts our society.
13. I learned more through practical experience than I ever learned in school, & I received straight A’s for most of my academic life. I learned so much more from my internships & jobs.
14. I was an English tutor in college for 2 years & wrote 2 books. Most students are bad...
14. I was an English tutor in college for 2 years & wrote 2 books. Most students are bad...
...at writing. I blame this on elementary education more than anything. Writing is such an essential skill for the real world. Almost everyone has to write in some capacity, & most don’t do it well.
15. Giving homework during snow days, weather emergencies, & weekends will...
15. Giving homework during snow days, weather emergencies, & weekends will...
...always turn the class against the teacher/professor. It’s not worth it. Let them be if possible.
16. If administrators want to know how good or bad a teacher is, ask the students. http://Ratemyprofessor.com is incredibly accurate with a large enough sample size in my experience.
16. If administrators want to know how good or bad a teacher is, ask the students. http://Ratemyprofessor.com is incredibly accurate with a large enough sample size in my experience.
Administrators begged students not to rely on this information, & the students who didn’t seek information on their professors before choosing their classes were often disappointed with their experience. Administrators: listen to your students en mass, especially the hard...
...working, responsible, and articulate students.
17. On that note, the wrong teachers/professors are often promoted & the right ones are under-appreciated.
18. Everyone studies differently. Figuring out what studying habits work best for you is your key to success starting...
17. On that note, the wrong teachers/professors are often promoted & the right ones are under-appreciated.
18. Everyone studies differently. Figuring out what studying habits work best for you is your key to success starting...
...in high school moving forward. Sometimes students need guidance to figure out what works best for them. Teachers, administrators and parents need to help them with that. Not knowing how to study properly can have devastating academic consequences.
19. The Socratic method...
19. The Socratic method...
...only works if your students WANT to talk to you. Forcing them to talk when they’re completely unwilling might be an indictment on your teaching, or it’s just that they’re antisocial. I’ve rarely seen it mastered, & I mostly saw it work well in law school.
20. If a student...
20. If a student...
...is just a few points from the higher grade, consider their work ethic & behavior. Bump them. There are real world consequences from scholarship cutoffs to admissions for colleges & postgraduate schools that are decided by GPA decimals. Your GPA matters because the education...
...system decided that it does. Whether or not you agree with it, that’s the way it is. I saw a student miss out on a full ride scholarship to his dream school by 0.01 of his GPA, which came down to 1 or 2 questions on a science test and an 89.9% which gave him a “B.” It...
...bothers me to this day, because that kid missed out on an opportunity he worked so hard for. You can call it tough love, but with high tuition & all the adversity life hands us, we learn to fail on our own. Don’t manufacture failure. I’ve seen it ruin lives.
21. Teachers...
21. Teachers...
...who are unapproachable should not be teaching.
22. Professors go on political rants, sometimes for the entire class period, when the students paid for the class they’re not being taught. Administrators seem to be clueless of this notion. I’m all for deviations from the...
22. Professors go on political rants, sometimes for the entire class period, when the students paid for the class they’re not being taught. Administrators seem to be clueless of this notion. I’m all for deviations from the...
...material, but those deviations should be either useful for real life or lighthearted to keep students engaged. I loved when teachers told fun, personal stories. It kept my attention when they went back to the material.
23. Teachers in middle & high school who don’t show...
23. Teachers in middle & high school who don’t show...
...the NCAA Tournament & conference tournament games in their classes during a long school year are monsters & I still resent them.
24. Not letting students use the restroom should be illegal. I’ve seen some terrible situations of this. I have ulcerative colitis, so this is...
24. Not letting students use the restroom should be illegal. I’ve seen some terrible situations of this. I have ulcerative colitis, so this is...
...deep for me, but there are regular instances I’ve seen where this went wrong. It’s inhumane. If you’re worried about students using it as an excuse to leave, maybe try to be interesting enough to keep them from wanting to or monitor your hallways better.
25. Most tests are...
25. Most tests are...
...simply memorization exercises that don’t test the students’ actual knowledge of the information. They forget the information they’re tested on very quickly after they’re allowed to forget it. Idk the best way to fix this, but how most tests are currently given are...
...ineffective in teaching permanently understood concepts.
Bonus: for students, these are my 5 rules for being a successful student in college & beyond: (1) try your hardest to listen at all times during lectures. Accept that you will be occasionally distracted. Use notes to...
Bonus: for students, these are my 5 rules for being a successful student in college & beyond: (1) try your hardest to listen at all times during lectures. Accept that you will be occasionally distracted. Use notes to...
...fill the gaps. But don’t write everything down. Don’t be a “scribe.” Actually think about what the professor is saying. (2) do all of your homework, especially if it’s for a grade. This includes extra credit. I NEVER failed to do an extra credit assignment. It’s a gift.
Take it as cushion in case the test is harder than you anticipated. (3) Hard working students succeed almost always. If not, work hard to find help. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. I had many tutors & I was never ashamed of it. (4) Make friends with smarter students. And don’t...
...be fake about it. There’s so much you can learn from them, & they can help you get through a course & learn the material better. They can give you more comprehensible notes to study. But if you’re fake-nice & use them, remember they’re likely smart enough to catch on.
(5) Go to your professor’s office hours. Make sure your professors always know who you are. It makes a difference. When he enters your grades & can put a name to a face, he or she might give you the boost that makes a difference in your GPA. It matters more than you think.
