by Alexander Bigelow
Horizon Reporter
As students, it’s our job to come to class and be ready and willing to learn. We should come to class always prepared (and yes that means doing the readings in advance), we should take notes and be ready for a pop quiz (or two in Steve DeRoy’s classes), we should be respectful and not interrupt with silly cell-phone jingles and other whatnots and know full well that the students around us are here to learn as well. We should come to class with a fervor to learn and gain knowledge that will later help us in life but, we don’t do that do we.
We bitch, we whine, we complain because college is hard, it’s difficult, it’s stressful, and it’s everything we would rather not be doing. We sit in class expecting, nay, demanding for teachers to pander to our every need.
But here’s a funny thought: shouldn’t we expect nothing from professors and be grateful for any help we get? It’s their job to teach, not to make our lives any easier and actually, quite the contrary. Shouldn’t professors go above and beyond to make us uncomfortable, to make us challenge ourselves in a way we haven’t been before?
But wait, am I asking everyone to take responsibility for their own lives? Yes, I guess I am. We should be responsible in that we strive to be better than anyone ever thought we could. We should take immense pride in doing well and when we don’t, we take full responsibility for why we did as we did.
We need to be accountable for all that we do and always remember that it’s our grades, not the professors’, it reflects how we did, not how the professor did. No matter what, if we are dedicated to our classes, if we are willing to spend the extra time when we are struggling, our efforts will be rewarded. If we half-ass it, we’re going to get a half-assed outcome.
Responsibility, I guess, is the underlying thought to my agony. I understand many if not all of the students are responsible parents, brothers, sisters, employees, friends and children, but that’s not what I’m proposing; I’m proposing academic responsibility. We need to accept the challenge of college knowing that by the end, our difficulties and struggles will be rewarded (we hope). We respect our teacher’s decisions, no matter the questionable fairness because as adults have always told me, “Life ain’t fair,” so why should college be any different?
