“When am I ever going to use this info?” That is the burning question lingering quietly in the busy minds of all students. It could be elementary, middle, high school, or even college… some people arrive at this curious thought earlier than others. When the time comes, the student naturally wants to see a clear relationship between theoretical educational lessons from class and real world practical application.
At the initial moment of questioning it’s easy for a student to discredit the theoretical academic lessons, making an assumption that the information is useless outside of the classroom. “When will I ever need to do complex factorials or find determinants of multi dimensional matrices? Will I ever really need to recite the dates of prominent historical events?” The answer is simple: Maybe you will, and maybe you won’t.
The key is to become conscious of the fact that you will never truly appreciate the importance of the knowledge you have learned until the moment you actually need it. This split-second epiphany of understanding is rather astonishing. It’s simply one of the most satisfying experiences in an educational career, the instant it all comes together. In that silent moment, one makes the clear connection between formal education and real world application. This moment too comes at different times for different people, but it’s a brilliant feeling when the childhood world of formal education that most of us live in for nearly 2 decades intersects fluidly with a problem placed before you in adulthood.
Yes, it is impossible to retain every theoretical lesson ever learned. That’s just an obvious predicament we must live with. The important thing is to understand why it was not a waste of time, something I think we all eventually figure out for ourselves.
There are several things this year’s incoming college freshmen don’t remember that most mid to late twenty-something’s will never forget. It’s a clear sign of the inevitable change in the times. I was recently reminded of this when I spoke with an 18 year old college freshman at my cousin’s wedding last week. We were joking around about the old-school selection of music the D.J. was playing. I made a sarcastic comment about the D.J. stealing my old 80’s – 90’s radio recorded mix-tape collection in order to construct his wedding reception dance mix. The girl looked at me with a puzzled face. “You recorded all your music off of the radio?” she asked. “Oh man!” I thought. “I’m getting old!”
Let’s discuss the flipside of knowledge. Yes, knowledge is power, but it can also create absolute boredom. We’ve all heard the canned phrase “ignorance is bliss”, haven’t we? Sure, it can be interpreted as a negative statement, but if you think about it there are certain positive truths in this statement as well. If you knew everything, would you be motivated to do anything? Consider the following points:
At some point in time everyone involved in an exclusive relationship experiences a momentary thought of infidelity. It’s the flirtatious glimmer in your eye that indicates a brief superficial curiosity for someone of the opposite sex, the simple act of wondering. For that split second your values misalign, placing shallow emotion ahead of your true moral character. This momentary shift is a direct reflection of your instinctual emotion splitting away from your moral values. When your sound moral values and your fickle emotion are disconnected, your mind is divided and thus your judgment is muddled. Most people’s acts of infidelity are innocent, left hanging to expire in brief, insignificant moments of thought.