Office Hours

[Eisa]

I got lucky as being in the honors program, they will spoon feed you if you need it and leave you alone if you don't. I haven't seen an adviser since freshman year [although I do need to meet with one before next semester to make sure I've got all my requirements taken care of].

I felt sorry for my adviser freshman year; the first semester, I was still stuck on what it was like in high school, so I wanted to take English 301 [like was recommended for me]. My adviser was like, "You don't HAVE to take English, you already have the required English classes met [with AP scores and ACT scores]." I was kind of like, "....Oh. "

[Miss Fatale]

I am also a college professor. A friend of mine is a freshman in college. We were talking about something similar today and I explained that many assignments are set up so that you can learn from them and apply them to other areas of one's life.

Thinking of this thread, I said, "If I tell you go to the library, go to this database, get this book, read this chapter, you'll only know how to do that, you won't know how to do research next time."

My friend, bless his heart, said, "Ohhhhhhhh." Lightbulb totally went off. I hope I have saved some of his future profs from grief.

[Seshat]

I think you may have. Also his employers!

[AriRashkae]

Maybe I should try explaining it to my older son like that. Then again, he's 12. He just doesn't give a rat's tail right now.

[Darkforge]

Thinking of this thread, I said, "If I tell you go to the library, go to this database, get this book, read this chapter, you'll only know how to do that, you won't know how to do research next time."

My friend, bless his heart, said, "Ohhhhhhhh." Lightbulb totally went off. I hope I have saved some of his future profs from grief.

but how can people not know how to do this?

I mean in my last year of primary school (I was 11) we had to do 2 projects, one was a short 3 page essay on a topic of our choice, and then we had to do a longer project which had to be a minimum of 5 pages, but the longer it was the better on a second topic of our choice.

I ended up doing my short project on the country Greece and my long one on the Kings and Queens of england (minimum one page each monarch from 1066 onwards plus into and conclusion) that took ages to do, but I went to the library and found the books and read them and then decided what was useful for the topic and what to include. I know I got some help from my parents (there were some old words I didn't understand) but it was one hell of a learning experience.

People should have to do this kind of thing from a young age so they can get used to doing it for themselves.

-that said I'm the worst at making decisions and ask the other half to make most for me, but that just the lazy talking, I'm not afraid of getting off my arse and getting something done when needed.

[Bronzebow]

I ended up doing my short project on the country Greece and my long one on the Kings and Queens of england (minimum one page each monarch from 1066 onwards plus into and conclusion) that took ages to do, but I went to the library and found the books and read them and then decided what was useful for the topic and what to include. I know I got some help from my parents (there were some old words I didn't understand) but it was one hell of a learning experience.

That sounds like an impressive paper. How many pages did the second project end up being?

[Miss Fatale]

but how can people not know how to do this?

In my friend's specific case, he is very literal. I don't know what kind of schooling he had, but when given instructions, he prefers everything to be step by step in exacting detail. It's just how his brain is wired.

I think an example might be....The assignment says choose a fairy tale. Many people will choose something like Snow White or Cinderella. Others might choose stories from China, Japan, Mexico, etc. My friend would say, "Which fairy tale do you mean? Which one should I choose?" He doesn't necessarily mean that he should be told "Snow White" but he wants specifics like, "A European fairy tale recorded between 1600 and 1805."

It's things like that that can make teaching so difficult. One person might think, "Great, I love being told something specific!" and other people think, "Why does it have to be European? Why does it have to be between 1600 and 1805? What about X?"

Literal and abstract modes of thinking are both needed but they are often at odds...