It didn’t take me long to figure out that I didn’t learn like most of my peers at university, and that’s probably due to my unusual education prior to coming to post-secondary. I was a part of the first graduating class from my high school, so we oversaw the building of community as well as course content. I didn’t have textbooks, I had TED Talks and YouTube lessons. And navigating MyLearningSpace was a piece of cake when the majority of your education was digitized, and you used Google Classroom to submit all of your assignments.
I was never assigned classics like Animal Farm or Lord of The Flies – I read The Fault in Our Stars and One Day (which is arguably the worst Anne Hathaway movie, but that’s besides the point). I had passion projects instead of school assignments and got to make documentaries about gender inequality. I also had teachers who were advocates for intrinsic motivation and reforming the public education system to have pass or fail classes without exams. So, coming to university, where essays and midterms are a staple, has been a big adjustment.
Here are just a few struggles that I’ve experienced as someone who learns and excels differently at university:
Writing countless essays can be annoying and often seem redundant
Sometimes after writing one you feel like you’ve written them all, and you’re just hoping and praying that maybe next semester things will be different.
Not having a good relationship with your prof is the worst
When you go from coffee dates with your teachers to your profs and TA’s struggling to remember your first name, it doesn’t exactly feel validating.
You hate memorizing for tests that are pure regurgitation
The chances of you remembering any of these specific facts two days from now, let alone two years from now when you finish your degree, are slim to none.
There’s not a whole lot of room for creative liberties
Let’s be real, the lecture slides are from 2012 and aside from implementing the newest edition of the textbook, the course doesn’t stray too far from the syllabus and remains frozen in time.
Sitting in a lecture hall for three hours is a cruel and unusual punishment
When you’re used to having class outside, in the library or even on the streets of downtown Toronto, sitting in the same spot for that long can feel like torture.
It’s important to remember that everyone learns differently, but it’s up to you to make the most of your degree. Sometimes it’s hard to see where all of this is going, but hang in there, Golden Hawks! Summer break is just around the corner and we’ll get through exam season together!