So, as you may know, I have taken a job at the university where I teach, what is is called, "musicianship." The university, let me tell ya, is all about change. This class is actually fairly new (it used to be two separate classes), and the teachers have just about got their curriculum in check. They have written everything up that needs to be written, and a schedule that fits to the semester. They are just getting to the point where they don't have to worry about how they will fulfill their objectives in the class in regards to the curriculum they have decided to follow, but they can now take it to the next level and wonder how they can best teach what they want to teach.
I meet with these teachers about once a week (I do get paid for the interview...he he) and we almost always end up in a philosophical discussion. One teacher has been teaching for 50 years + and the other is in my generation, but extremely intelligent and is dedicated to what he does. At first, in these meetings I would be a little timid. I didn't want to say something that would offend either one of them and my job security would plummet. But as time has gone on, I've noticed they value our opinion because we are students who have been in our student's shoes. They seem to trust us and our opinion as we have the common goals to make our class the most beneficial we can for the students. It is quite fascinating.
The other day we were in one of these discussions. Fuming, the older teacher expressed his frustration at students who are attending college as a means to an end. They want to get by, they just want to pass for the slip of paper that will ensure them a job after they graduate. Pretty understandable, right? I mean, that is why we go to college, right? But his qualm was that students no longer desired and thirsted for knowledge. Rather, when he introduced a new topic, they would squirm and complain, and challenge his right to be teaching them things that they might not see on a test because it would not be "productive" and a "waste of time." I may have elaborated on the subject a little bit, but this is the general attitude I notice from the peers around me. They "hem and haw" and really just want professors to give them the grade. They want everything on a silver platter. "Just give me the grade I deserve based off of the effort I put into this class!" seems to be the complacent cry, even if they have not gained a true understanding of the material. They have put in effort. Effort to complete assignments, to memorize what might be on the tests, but they do not wish to internalize the skills, or what they are learning.
This was the teacher's complaint and I and the other mentor with us, could not help but agree. The teacher pointed out that our generation has seemed to forget what hard work was.
This ushered in a hour of discussion. My take on it was/is this:
My generation has grown up with everything at our fingertips. We have entertainment readily available, we know there are tools we can find a mouse-click away, we know that knowledge is readily available for finding in a time of need, there our friends that are a phone call/text away, we know the whereabouts of our family members all the time and know they can come rushing to our aid, we have stores that are just minutes away, and we have always had the ability to be educated because our society makes it so readily available to us. Everything is easy. We don't have to work hard. We have been taught that as long as we get an acceptable grade in our studies we will be given what we want. It boarders on Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World in that "people are happy; they get what they want." True, people may be temporarily happy, but they may not see things as they are and are to come(D&C 93:24). It is hard to see a life outside of college where the knowledge we gain will be useful and for our benefit, but how will we implement what we have been taught if we actually didn't learn the material?
But what if college didn't give us a degree or knowledge to aid us in job prospects? Is it still worth our time? (Yeah, dumb question) In D&C 88:118 we are encouraged to seek words of wisdom from one another and out of the best books. We also learn that what we have done in this life, the knowledge we have gained and the character we have built, will be the thing that will remain with us in the next life. President Gorden B. Hinckley once said, "The mind of man is the crowning creation of God, in whose express image man was made. The development of the mind is a companion responsibility to the cultivation of the spirit, as set forth in the revealed principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ." (see D&C 93:36) The whole purpose of this life is to be tried and tested. We are failing our final exam if we have not studied for our test! How can we expect to be like God if we don't strive to make our mind like his?
In 2 Nephi 2 we learn that because we are redeemed from the fall of Adam we are free. Free to act, and not to be acted upon (vs 26). If we don't take this freedom we have been given, this gift that was paid for by our Savior, we are being selfish and ungrateful. It is as if we reject Him and His sacrifice. Let us continually strive to improve ourselves. Stand a little taller.
The ability we have to learn is given us, but the means by which we are able to learn is also a gift to our generation in this day and age. We have been given limitless resources! Libraries! The Internet! Those who have gone before us! Indeed we have been blessed. Indeed, you may say that we have a duty to our children, in consequence of our having so many opportunities, to seek learning.
But how do we seek learning? We are admonished to seek learning "even by study and also by faith." In my life I have come to learn for myself that faith is a verb. It required action, and in doing so, our faith grows. It is a continued cycle.We believe and hope, take action, and gain even more reason to believe and hope. So it is with our ambition to learn. We must proceed in faith and with purpose. We must be careful of the source of our learning. Resulting from so many sources of knowledge, we know that there are sources designed specifically to deceive. We can always be assured that the spirit will never lie, for it "speaketh truth and lieth not...and these things are manifested unto us plainly" (Jacob 4:13).
I know that this maybe a struggle to many, but I can sincerely say that I as I have put these things into practice, my eyes have been opened. I love to learn! I receive great joy as I become the pupil of the Spirit. It is a struggle but certainly worth it! I have come to enjoy learning for learning and to sit "pondering in mine heart" the things I am taught my heart swells with gratitude and a sense of well-being. I've thought about these things as I have been teaching, and I decided to read all my students a cute little poem:
The Thrill of Acheivement
There is no thrill in easy sailing,
Where skies are clear and blue;
There's no joy in merely doing
Things which anyone can do.
But there is great satisfaction
That is very sweet to take,
When you reach a destination
That was really tough to make.
I know we are Never Alone in our endeavors. Especially when they are Christ-like and we are seeking the help of the one who wants us to come unto Him. Back to Huxley's Brave New World. When the character, Savage, confronts the "commander" in the book, they argue about which life style is better. Is the life where everything is easy and given to us the most desirable, or is the lifestyle that sees struggle worth living? "Actual happiness [otherwise known as pleasure] always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, non of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness [or pleasure, which does not shine to TRUE happiness] is never grand."
Learning may be hard, but it is so real and worth the effort in contrast to one who goes through the mere motions of learning.
