Getting an Education or Getting Schooled
By: Malaika Tolford
Staff Writer
It is a bright, crisp autumn day on the Meramec Campus. The heat has broken a third of the way into the fall semester, and it feels amazing. You are in a classroom, your notebook in front of you is open to a clean crisp new page, and yourV professor, who has been teaching for longer than you have been alive, is telling a story. It is a personal account of his experiences in the field. The field being the same as those three letters next to the course number. COM, PSY, EDU, whatever it is, he has been at it for a long time. He is wise, he is funny, he is imparting you with wisdom stored deep in a mind that has been actively engaged in academia for decades.
Just as your professor is wrapping up this vignette, this glorious illustration, a high- pitched voice cuts through the air from the back of the classroom, “Um, Professor? Is this going to be on the exam?”
You can feel this beautiful moment of shared knowledge flood out of the room. The professor’s face says, “you just don’t get it, do you?” But, being the professional that he is, he patiently advises the student on information that was probably provided on day one, or that is already in the syllabus.
This scene should be familiar to most students at STLCC. Either you are the student that makes sure to know exactly what course content will be covered on the exam, or you are a student that does not care to take it all that seriously. For those of you already concerned which student is the better student, let us assure you that there is no right answer. We come from a variety of backgrounds and versions of schooling. Some of us have been taught that there is a right way to take notes, while others of us were never taught to take notes at all. There are many ways to be taught, to be schooled and to learn.
Getting your schooling is important, but getting your education is much more important. Letters and numbers on a transcript are essential, but knowing why you are in the classroom in the first place is paramount. Close your syllabus and start engaging in your education.
