Stockton - Hales
Journey log 6
Warrior
Habits of mind: Openness and Engagement
Plagiarism is SCARY. Not going to lie, I was really freaking out when we were talking about it in class. I write lab reports every week for my science labs and in that moment I was second guessing everything!! I definitely make sure I paraphrase and cite my sources because it goes to turn it in, but it just made me terrified to use anything from another source. You mentioned one student putting a URL at the top of her page and not using in text citations (If I remember correctly) and her professor reported it and she got kicked out. The fact that one small mistake could get you kicked out of college makes me scared out of my mind.
The emphasis that our society and our schools puts on plagiarism begs the question, how important is writing our own material? Why are we really going to school? Up through high school, the answer to that may be because we are made to. But after, that, if and when we go to college is our choice. We are choosing to pay for an education, so at that point I would say, for the most part, that we want to be here.
Going to college is a privilege that not everyone gets. So why in the hell do we take it for granted? Students that come just to party or to coast their way through off of other people’s work often lack engagement with school. Maybe they were never taught that learning is actually fun or they lack the proper motivation or whatever it is. But one thing is for sure, engaging in school and learning is one of the most important things about getting an education.
https://sites.google.com/a/madison.k12.wi.us/west-high-school-counseling/college-counseling
If we invest all this money in college, why wouldn’t we invest our time and mind to get what we came for? Learning is an experience in itself; it goes back to the basics. You don’t get anywhere without learning. For instance, as a baby how did you get anywhere without being able to walk? You wouldn’t! (yes, your parents could pick you up, but what if they never learned to walk either?) You sit, just stuck, in that place until you learn to put one foot in front of the other. And then, you’re off learning the next new thing.
http://www.everydayfamily.com/one-baby-step-at-a-time/
Yes, we can go through college copying off of other people and faking our way through Cs to get a degree. But what then? We have to be able to go out into the world and apply our education and experiences to a job. People will be looking to you or me one day to accomplish something and we have to be able to step up and do it. Education has a vital role in making us who we are and determines the direction that our life goes.
So as far as school work goes, we have to do it ourselves. We have to be open to new opportunities to learn even though we may not like them. Every major is different so that each student may pursue a specific path that they are interested in, but there are also general education requirements. And although I may not like some of them, I still appreciate them.
http://ucol.uncc.edu/general-education