So, clarification for everyone: I’m a freshman. Whether you are now, or were in the past, at some point I imagine you went though this rush of change. Amid the many new things I have experienced since the start of the semester, one common theme has presented itself in all of my classes; forget (almost) everything you learned in high school, because it’s a whole new ball game now. It’s as though I’m receiving an entirely new educational foundation, but at the same time, it’s different from any kind I’ve ever had.
To begin, there’s this new emphasis on independence and freethinking. I went to a huge public high school, with a population of 4,000 and a graduating class of 800. With this crowd, it was near impossible to stand out in any way besides your GPA and ranking. Because of that, it became all anyone focused on. Now, however, I’m not just expected to memorize a paper in front of me and hope it translates to a high state exam grade. As Dr. McCoy said today, the new goal is “to learn, not to study.” Which is certainly jarring at first; how do you succeed on a paper without an explicit prompt or detailed rubric? What was the point of the last decade of public education if now college tells me it was wrong? But over the past week, my nerves have turned into hopeful excitement. This transition from high school is more refreshing than disheartening; the new freedom lets me begin my student career with a clean slate, on which I can sketch, erase, or redo whatever path I wish to follow.
On a similar note, I’ve also noticed that rather than acting as separate entities, the material I learn in all of my classes is somewhat related. The other day, my art history professor told us that all of his students comes in with a cemented idea of what drawing is “supposed” to be; if an outline isn’t used, or the human figure doesn’t look a particular way, the artwork is wrong. But on the first day he told us that drawing was not so much about a set of instructions you project onto a sheet of paper. It’s more about using color and light to create a feeling in the observer, or to reflect the artist’s emotions, all with an image. Our class discussion of New Criticism reminded me of that. This dissection of literature, with minimal focus on what the reader or author may have felt, isn’t what our class should be dealing with, even though it may reflect our old education model. We would gain a deeper understanding from researching beyond, and by considering how we or the author may feel. I didn’t only notice this in art; my black studies and philosophy courses also seem to have some overlap. Sure, I imagine there will be times when, for example, geology doesn’t line up with metaphysics, but that will no longer be the default.
Before, I always saw school as a grind. There was no time to stop and think about the content you absorb, because if you don’t ace this particular exam in this particular manner, you won’t be able to progress to the next grade, where you’ll do the exact same thing. But this time, all my classes are related in some way, shape, or form. Through this connection, there is more of an emphasis on the student’s approach to a piece, and on continuously asking questions about the writing. While the work that comes with this fresh start may seem daunting, I don’t feel like I’m learning in a vacuum anymore. Maybe college itself captures the meaning of interdisciplinarity. Rather than constantly searching for a correct answer, learning is now a journey to see how all subjects of study are somehow connected, and how the student may establish and investigate those connections.