Was Your First Semester of College well Spent?

My early collage days were very enjoyable. Then after  some time  everything got  so difficult and there was no one to help me out. My grades began to fall, and my teachers started to complain. This continued untill  near the end of the semester when I realized how to recollect my life.  Then I worked hard for the end year exam, and my grades improved significanly. I realized that you are not just awarded good grades, you  have to earn them.

Coming from a poor  background I realized I should set  my destiny through  college education.  It downed to me that my classmates are working hard and focused on their studies.  As Louis Menand put it in his writing Live and Learn that it is difficult to pick out  the most intelligent person  because this exercise invorves various  attributes which are hard to capture in a one time assessment such as an I.Q test.  In his writing he also mentions that  being in college is like the hundred yard dash and the fast and the slow  runners are separated by a stopwatch.

With these inspiration words, it downed on me that am an open minded person and can think outside the box to improve on my grades. Speed, accuracy and dependability on what I got from my lecturers started sinking in; I concentrated on my core business in college; working hard knowing that I will be gradeded  by my intellectual ability and not the friends I had in college.  I realized that  If I did not work hard when in collage, that might haunt me in future. 

I don’t think that my upbringing was a major contributor to my poor grades earlier in the semester. However, to some extent I could not fully concentate in school since I kept thinking about home most of the time. Sometimes I could spend the entire lesson chatting with my home friend through the phone and end up getting nothing in class.

My motivation during the semester shifted from just getting good grades to separating myself from my friends and classmates. I  realized that my future should have a share of  my intellectual capacity and  big  potential. This could only be realized if I worked hard in school. At this point I was not gauging myself against my colleagues but  by my inner ability to have successful college life and prove my worth. This thought  actualized to better grades at the end of the semester and upto date my life has improved considerably.

To me, all that mattered through out the semester is good grades. As  Louis Menands states in his book  live and learn,  that there are some stuff that all grownups  ought to know, and being in helps people gut these stuff into their heads. He also mentions that peole will only learn what they need to know if they live in a  society  that  encourages financial and personal  rewards.

My other inspiration stemmed from ‘The usefulness of Useless Knowledge’ paper by Abraham Flexner with his argument that  the world is full of hatred  which threatens civilization among both old and young women, and in turn these people  may detach  themselves  from their daily activities  to devote themselves to  the extension of knowledge, cultivation of beauty, to the amelioration of suffering to the the cure of disease. This transformed my perception of college life as just a fad but an investment of the future.

Later in the semester, I detached myself from useless ac activities and concentrated on my studies taking seriously Abraham Flexner’s words seriously. Self gratification for the moment took back seat as I focused on a more permanent future strategy. This has awakened my inner senses thus improving my grades and attaining inner peace.

Before joining college, I used to think that this place was all about having fun, making friends and attending classes to fulfill a subconscious obligation. Through out my first semester, I have leaned that it is the grades that count at the end of it all and building a solid foundation for my future came about through this realization. Concentrating on class assignment is not all that there is, reading journals, papers and magazines at the library broadened my perception of life.

My determination to excel for the last three months transformed my inner self from emptiness to a sense of fulfillment especially after realizing that my destiny is not culture based. I   also leaned a lot of human psychology from Jonathan Haidt book ‘born this way’ where he argues that  human being  tend to value various  moral foundations  almost in an equal measure irrespective of either being right-wing or  conservatives. He continues to say  that human beings  tend to value  fairness  more than  loyalty; irrespective of purity and  authority .

In the recent past I have been able to curve a unique freedom and create enough space for my study privacy which has seen my grades improve semester  by semester.  No wonder my classmates have created more interest in my recent way of reasoning, doing things and rational thinking.  Questioning my actions and making the right and positive decisions has prevailed upon my quest for better college results.

As a changed college student, I must confess that self discipline, determination and hard work have made my semester a well spent on. Time management on the other hand, has been a major contributor to my sucess. I have been able to participate in extra curriculum and other activity organized by our  institution and this has not compromised by class performance. I find this as a way of unwinding and approaching my class work with a more positive, focused and fresh mind.

High concentration in  college translated to good grades. Even today I continuously push my abilities to higher levels . Am now able to start my career path and most of my school mates are looking upon me as a living testimony. All the same , bettering my school grades has not been that easy.

Early collage life taught me alot of things.  For instance, I was able to learn that to suceed in life one has to  make friends with the right people. Some friends can make you waste your life while other can change your life the better.  Sometimes our destiny is governed by people around us.