High School Rules
On Mondays I have a full day of Anatomy and Physiology 1. The course is designed such that the first half of the material, right up until the end of today, one class before the midterm, is all information that I had covered in high school biology and chemistry. Since I loved biology and chemistry it has all stuck with me surprisingly well. As a result, the teacher hasn't taught me really anything new, save a few terms that I didn't know, or didn't remember.
This has been great. It's been a simple review of something that I quite enjoyed in high school, and the result is that I'll likely not have to study much at all for the midterm next Monday. I'll review the few terms I didn't know, sure, but other than that I have a solid grasp on the material, and it is multiple choice after all.
What has not been great has been my classmates. Unfortunately one of the differences between university and college is that, somewhat like in high school, it is deeply uncool to know the answers in college. It is uncool to answer the teacher. It is uncool to do the reading ahead of time. It is uncool to do anything but stare at the teacher blankly and vacantly, refusing to absorb any material.
I am not afraid of my classmates. I was in high school, and that held me back, much am I loathe to admit it. Now, however, I have resorted to the much more effectual approach of thinking that they are the losers, and answering and participating and learning regardless of their sneers.
I have had to field the scathing remarks of "if you already know it, Haley, why didn't you just get an exempt and stop irritating the rest of us?" Most of these delivered in the typical high school way of whispered remarks to friends within ear shot of the intended target. The expected high school response would be to sink down in my chair and refuse to open my mouth for any more questions in hopes to save myself in their eyes. But, as you may suspect, I am unwilling to play by high school rules. I'm 21, thanks, I've done a degree at university, I have wonderful friends, a loving boyfriend, and a great family, what do I need the approval of some snotty teenager (or wannabe teenager, in the case of the one 20-something married girl who sits with the fresh-out-of-high-school kids for God only knows what reason) in the back of my college classroom? The fact is: I don't need your approval. You know what I do need? Good marks and the respect of my teachers. That's what counts, not you, and you don't get that by playing by your social rules.
I hated high school, and I absolutely refuse to go back there in any way whatsoever.
Thankfully there are a far higher proportion of older women who do not hold this teenage mentality, and often turn to me for clarification of a point and admire and respect me for my already absorbed knowledge, rather than scorning me for it. And, eventually, hopefully, those stupid teenage girls will learn that their rules aren't going to work in college. Probably right about the time when they fail their first midterm. Say, like the one on Wednesday.
This has been great. It's been a simple review of something that I quite enjoyed in high school, and the result is that I'll likely not have to study much at all for the midterm next Monday. I'll review the few terms I didn't know, sure, but other than that I have a solid grasp on the material, and it is multiple choice after all.
What has not been great has been my classmates. Unfortunately one of the differences between university and college is that, somewhat like in high school, it is deeply uncool to know the answers in college. It is uncool to answer the teacher. It is uncool to do the reading ahead of time. It is uncool to do anything but stare at the teacher blankly and vacantly, refusing to absorb any material.
I am not afraid of my classmates. I was in high school, and that held me back, much am I loathe to admit it. Now, however, I have resorted to the much more effectual approach of thinking that they are the losers, and answering and participating and learning regardless of their sneers.
I have had to field the scathing remarks of "if you already know it, Haley, why didn't you just get an exempt and stop irritating the rest of us?" Most of these delivered in the typical high school way of whispered remarks to friends within ear shot of the intended target. The expected high school response would be to sink down in my chair and refuse to open my mouth for any more questions in hopes to save myself in their eyes. But, as you may suspect, I am unwilling to play by high school rules. I'm 21, thanks, I've done a degree at university, I have wonderful friends, a loving boyfriend, and a great family, what do I need the approval of some snotty teenager (or wannabe teenager, in the case of the one 20-something married girl who sits with the fresh-out-of-high-school kids for God only knows what reason) in the back of my college classroom? The fact is: I don't need your approval. You know what I do need? Good marks and the respect of my teachers. That's what counts, not you, and you don't get that by playing by your social rules.
I hated high school, and I absolutely refuse to go back there in any way whatsoever.
Thankfully there are a far higher proportion of older women who do not hold this teenage mentality, and often turn to me for clarification of a point and admire and respect me for my already absorbed knowledge, rather than scorning me for it. And, eventually, hopefully, those stupid teenage girls will learn that their rules aren't going to work in college. Probably right about the time when they fail their first midterm. Say, like the one on Wednesday.
posted by Haley @ 7:00 p.m.
