Ok, so I did some more soulsearching, and I realize that, like Sandra posted before, Google is making us lazy.
Remember how I posted about my changing attitudes toward literacy, all the way back in September (I think)? Well, here’s some more insult to the previous injury – my endless whining about my computer.
Right now, I’m doing my Master’s degree in English education, so I am sometimes exhausted by the sheer amount of work to be done. I don;t have to read chapters. Now, I must read books. And I don’t do a report, or a simple essay. Now, I do 30 minute presentations and 15-20 page papers. It all hinges on the careful balance that might be hard to find. I remember doing very little studying in high-school – I was fairly bright, and the only classes that gave me trouble were history (too many important dead people to remember) and science (Damn you, Periodic Table!!).
So, imagine my surprise when I entered University, and immediately found myself in an environment where, not only did the Professors not hold my hand, but I actually had to put effort into what I did.
How rude, right?
So, I adjusted. I changed my outlook, and found that I really liked the challenge.
I wasn’t the only one to enter the University: my mother entered University too in order to begin and complete her Masters in Nursing Sciences.
Imagine, carpooling to college with your mother.
She’s even worse with a computer than I am, and she would dictate her essays and projects to me, and I would type it all up for her. We entered nearly violent debates over our confusion about MLA (the format for language and humanities classes) versus APA (the format for science classes), so that we each inverted formats – Mom would hand in a nursing assessment in flawless MLA, and I would hand in a report on Macbeth in impeccable APA.
Awkward.
But despite everything, we worked together towards a common goal, a completion of a college degree. We did it: I graduated with a BA in English, Literature track, and Mom got her Masterrs in Nursing.
She severely outstripped me, and I cannot imagine the effort it must have taken her. It was easy for me to act put upon whenever she asked me for help doing Internet research, formatting a research paper or taking out an inter-library loan. After all, I wasn’t a mother of two, with a full-time, 40+ hour a week job and a husband, was I?
Scratch that – I am awful. I admire my parents. I think they have taught me a lot more about the value of education, the desire for self-improvement, literacy, independence, than anything I’ve ever experienced. They have shown me what it is to be truly driven to a goal, and stick with it and work it out until you have what you came for, and not give up.
