“I am passionate about it, and so I want you to be passionate about it, too.”
One of my professors articulated this to me; she had just finished talking about the freshmen taking her course and how they were talking to each other and on their cell phones more than they paid attention to her.
I was guilty of being distracted just as much as those freshmen.
I felt a new thought come up in response to the whole concept of education and its place in our sense of learning: Why were there so many of us who felt put upon for our attention in a classroom, despite the fact that many of us were supposed to be pursuing educations in those things that make us feel passionate?
If we are studying the things we say we love, why can we not find the patience to focus on those passions wisely and effectively?
I think we all have a tendency to lose sight of having a broader view of how much impact our academic lives will have on our futures.
We believe that we are being put upon by our professors despite that we are paying for the privilege to learn from them.
It is time for all of us to look at whether the projected world inside a cell phone is more important than investing in the wisdom of the present, both in the classroom and beyond it.
Taking the time to recognize the professors trying to invest in your betterment is definitely worth a moment away from the screen—and, despite being something I know I struggle with constantly, a habit I will definitely strive to break.
