Knowledge Getting versus Knowledge Making

 Eyes Down, Head Down

    In the first two years of high school, I was never really challenged all that much. Sure I was academically challenged with material that was increasing in difficulty but I was still getting A's and B's on all of my tests. So, my apathy meter was off the charts. It also did not help that the second half of the second semester sophomore year was online/at home. But junior year, was when all that changed. 

    At Benet, we had students A-K in school and L-Z at home. Then on Tuesday, it would be the reverse and so on. My first class of the day was intermediate algebra with a teacher who did bot like the high school system of rote memorization. Rather, he taught the class like a college would. Homework was not to be turned in or graded but you would be so confused if you didn't do it; and there were only four tests in the whole year. So, off the back of an easy second semester sophomore year and the fact that I didn't have to do any homework in a math class was beyond easy. I was unequivocally wrong. By the first test a month and a half into the semester, I realized that I needed to change my studying habits. For the first half of my high school career, I mainly focused on knowledge getting. Or just doing the motions just to get by and move on to the next quiz or test ( it wouldn't work out so well on the finals). It was not until I stepped back and asked myself why does this equal that; or why is that graph like that.  

However, It wasn't just about asking questions myself and immediately understanding it. I would be lying if I said I did not go in a see my teacher almost everyday and called my friends up on hour long phone calls just to hear how they were doing their homework. Yet, the lessons I learned in that class have not left me and probably wont as long as I am doing school work or work in general. I like to think I got this far because of the lessons I learned in that math class back in junior year.