Here you are in college, enrolled in official college courses, earning college credits, fulfilling college requirements for a bachelor’s degree. Sounds serious and impressive, doesn’t it? But there are times when the syllabus, exams, assignments, projects, and study groups feel more like hurdles to be jumped than opportunities to flex your mental muscles and expand and deepen your knowledge. Sometimes you may feel that the bureaucratic structure of college has sucked all the spontaneous love of thinking and learning out of the process.
When you start to feel that way, remember young Abe Lincoln, poring over his schoolbooks late at night by candlelight in a rough-hewn cabin! Obviously he was extremely committed to learning, even if conditions were far less than optimal.
MEET THE PROFESSOR AT LEAST HALFWAY
Some professors have the ability to fully challenge their students, and a knack for keeping the classroom lively. Professors like James Thomas in Philosophy, Tom Schaller in Political Science, and Taryn Bayles in Chemical Engineering, and many others, connect with their students in a very special way. But even in classes where the instruction is solid but unspectacular, you can learn if you choose to.
Professors are not entertainers. They assume that you are in the course because you genuinely want to learn about the topic and that you will meet them halfway. By doing the reading, coming to class prepared, participating in class discussions, and staying late or coming to office hours to continue the dialog, you take responsibility for your own education. The more you do this, the more you will learn. That’s simply indisputable.
LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Equally important, college presents many, many opportunities to learn outside the classroom. Put more bluntly, if you simply do what is required, you will miss a huge fraction of the learning available to you at UMBC. Not only that, you will not be cultivating the habits of intellectual curiosity and self-teaching that will contribute to your happiness and effectiveness throughout life.
Think about something you know a lot about that has never been taught to you in a classroom. Did you learn a non-English language from your parents? Did you learn how to sing in a gospel style at church? Do you know the names of the generals who fought at Gettysburg? Do you know why airplanes and helicopters stay in the air? Are you at least vaguely familiar with the work of Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Georgia O’Keefe? Do you know the connection between diet and life expectancy? You may well have learned all these things outside a formal classroom.
And what are some of the ways you have learned outside the classroom? How about this list for starters:
- Reading newspapers, books and magazines
- Visiting historical, scientific, or artistic sites
- Talking to people with knowledge more extensive than yours
- Reading Wikipedia and other internet sources
- Watching documentaries on television (History Channel, PBS, Smithsonian Channel)
- Working at a job (paid or volunteer).
As a college student, you have a whole new array of learning opportunities inside (of course) and outside classrooms. Consider these examples:
- Learn about journalism by writing for the Retriever Weekly and attending a national collegiate journalism conference.
- Pick up some Farsi or Korean by being a Conversation Partner with an international student
- Learn how to teach (and reinforce your own knowledge) by being a tutor in the Learning Resources Center.
- Learn about the Pony Express (what it was and was not) by attending a public lecture given by Professor Chris Corbett.
- Find out about the lost secrets of Archimedes (ancient mathematician) by taking a field trip to the Walters Art Museum sponsored by the Ancient Studies Club.
- Learn how to edit and produce an academic journal by working on the staff of the UMBC Review.
- Enhance your understanding of world affairs by participating in Model United Nations.
- Observe talented students using their programming skills as a team at meetings of the Game Development Club.
- Increase your understanding of global warming, historical immigration patterns, remote sensing technology, German lieder (songs), genetic counseling for Tay Sachs disease, and countless other topics by attending Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day at UMBC in late April.
- Learn more about just about anything by simply browsing the stacks in the UMBC Library!
All of this learning that takes place at UMBC outside official college courses is optional. If you simply attend your classes and do the required work, you will miss all of it. Much of it takes only a small investment of time. Being part of a community of lifelong students is exhilarating. Realizing that you can educate yourself here is priceless. And you don’t even have to stay up reading by candlelight like young Abe Lincoln.
Immediate Learning Opportunities at UMBC
Tuesday, November 8
Book Talk
New Student Book author Warren St. John (Outcasts United) speaks at UMBC,
University Center Ballroom
7:00 pm
Free, no pre-registration required
Outcasts United is the story of a refugee soccer team, a remarkable woman coach and a small southern town turned upside down by the process of refugee resettlement. (from outcastsunited.com)
Click here for additional information.
Wednesday, November 9
Humanities Forum
W.E.B. DuBois Lecture
W.E.B. Du Bois's Intellectual Ancestors: Reassessing the Works of Alexander Crummell and James McCune Smith
Carla L. Peterson, University of MarylandCollege Park
University Center Ballroom
4:00 pm
Free, no pre-registration required
The debate between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington has dominated African American intellectual history. Less well known is the influence of two forefathers, Alexander Crummell (1819-1898) and James McCune Smith (1813-1865). Carla Peterson will clarify these antecedents that allowed both Washington and Du Bois to reach their respective positions on education, and Du Bois to shape his thinking on race and culture.
Continuing through November 13
Photography Exhibit
100,000 Stories: A Selection of Women Photographers from the Photography Collections in Honor of the 20th Anniversary of the Women’s Center at UMBC
Albin O. Kuhn Library Rotunda (1st floor)
Open during library hours
Extra Credit Bonus Question:
What was the New Student Book Experience choice for Fall 2011?
