“The things that have been most valuable to me, I did not learn in school,” said Will Smith.
Society has brainwashed our generation into believing that school is the only doorway to success, that attending school is the best option we have as young adults.
What if I said society was wrong? Now don’t misinterpret my words, I am not talking about education, I am specifically referring to school. As Will Smith agrees, the most important things in life are not learned between four cement walls in an hour long lecture.
We have recently started our spring semester at the University and I can bet my money that the majority would agree this by far has been the best start to a spring semester because of Mother Nature’s wonderful touch.
Let’s be honest now. The only reason we have not yet complained about our new classes and the dreading assignments is because most of us have not really had class all week.
Nonetheless, I would not place the spring semester top in my list of things I am excited for, especially not after the long, relaxing winter break we just had.
Compared to high school and younger students, I guess we are lucky in the sense that we get an entire month of a break while they only have a single pathetic week and half off.
However, high school students do not undergo the stress and hair pulling we do during the excruciating three to four months of fall semester, so let’s just call it even.
My month long winter break consisted of eating endless amounts of food during the holidays and sweating them off every morning after.
My part-time job on weekends was dead (guess people don’t favor eating out during the holiday season?), and my friends still somehow managed to be busy.
So as the spring semester approached, I could feel the anxiety about going back to school, spending Monday through Friday falling asleep in class, stressing over homework, projects and exams all night building up. As well as eating nothing but junk during the day because that’s the quickest food around, yeah a total dream come true.
Don’t get me wrong, meeting new professors and learning about new subjects is all interesting and fun in a sense, but the thought of giving up homemade food and relaxing afternoons kind of takes away from that excitement of a “fresh new start.”
Let’s face it, it’s not really a fresh new start because after all, it is the same old academic year.
If your classes have two parts to them, you’re most likely dealing with the same professor in the same classroom with the same projector and the same monotonous voice, or in the worst case scenario, the same overly-excited voice.
Did I mention that it has been, sadly, statistically proven that students perform worse in the spring semester than they do in the fall? Just the cherry on top of our delicious spring sundae, right?
At the end of the day, however, whether we are fans of it or not, spring semester has arrived and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
I don’t think Mother Nature will be fulfilling my request of a three-month-long snow storm, sorry everyone. But hey, like they say, when you can’t beat them, join them.
I invite you all to join me in a better outlook on this spring semester ahead of us. Let’s all put our best foot forward and make the best of it, after all, it’s only four months ’till warm, loving, sun-bathing summer.
PHOTO TAKEN from acdemyblog.wordpress.com
