More than Head Knowledge

In the article "How Should Colleges Prepare Students To Succeed In Today's Global Economy?" Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. discusses a gap between higher education and the business world. This article brings to light that employers are not necessarily looking for someone who is completely specialized to their field, but instead, they are searching for people who have the ability to take information and apply it in real life. They want good communicators who have a balance in general education and more specialized education.

This goes hand in hand with the Honors Program at JBU. One ability a student in the Honors Program is expected to possess is the ability to apply knowledge to real life situations (II). They are expected to take what they learn in class and to apply it to their everyday. One example is in my English Comp class. In that class, I am refining my reading and summary skills; these skills are then transferred to different areas of my life such as another class. Also, it affects my personal non-academic life through changing the way I study the Bible or read devotionals. As it says in the above article, employers are looking for these skills in potential candidates, and I believe that not just the honors program but JBU as a college presents it's students with the ability to possess these qualities.

Alternative Education

These past few weeks in Honors orientation, we have been learning about education and discussing some issues in education that are flawed. For this assignment, we were asked to look at some alternative education system employed by many colleges around the US. One such college is Evergreen State University. At Evergreen, they do not measure a students learning by grades; however, they are evaluated by professors and themselves through detailed personal narratives. Their websites states that this has been widely accepted by employers because it is more detailed and personal than letter grades. 

Comparing this school to JBU, there are many differences. The main one, of course, is JBU has grades. At JBU, many students strive to maintain a certain GPA, whether it is for honors, scholarships, or just a personal goal. I believe this is good because it gives students something for which to strive; however, they can be a downfall where a student is focused just on the letter grade that they overlook actually learning and retaining the material. In academics I also see how the two colleges are alike. Like JBU’s professors, Evergreen’s professors seem that they are truly there to teach the students, and they want them to succeed. 

I personally believe I would do well in the type of learning at Evergreen. One point they made was that their classes were actually programs. They studied a variety of subjects in one class, with the help of labs and field trips. The reason I think I would excel in this type of education is I like to see how different subjects fit together. For example, my high school humanities class combined history, literature, geography, poetry, and music all into one class. With this I was able to learn how they all connected and fed off of each other. This type of learning makes sense to me and I enjoy learning this way.

Jack and Jill

One of my biggest struggles this year has been changing my learning strategy. In high school, grades came easy to me. I did not really have to try and was rewarded, through grades, for my lack of effort. Through the realization of what quality learning is, this learning just for a grade is something I am trying to avoid. I believe that a quality education comes from attaining and retaining knowledge. It is not based solely on test scores but on what you take out of the class and how it affects your life. 

In my own education, I now try to strive for quality education where I really learn something from the class that moves past the answers on the test. As I said above, I did not do this in high school which normally resulted in me forgetting most things after the test. I knew the information for the test and that was it. It meant nothing more to me. However in college, I have seen my goal shift to actually understanding and implementing the skills I use outside of the class. I measure my quality of my learning in my classes normally based on if I am paying attention or not, if I am just sitting in class staring at the teacher or if my mind is actually engaging what the professor is saying which results in actual gaining and retaining of knowledge. Hopefully, I will be able to continue this goal. I am here to learn, with quality learning, and I hope to take every opportunity to do so.