I coasted all the way up to and through 8th grade, but going to a college prep all-girls Catholic high school with classmates who were also all at the tops of their K-8 schools gave me a huge wakeup call. When I didn't even graduate in the top 10% of my high school class (I was in the top 12% instead), I was devasted but no longer arrogant about my brains, like I was when I graduated from junior high.
My best friend in college coasted all the way through her BA. She got her wakeup call in her first semester of medical school; she went to UCSD, one of the top 3 programs in the country, so she was up against her intellectual peers. She called me in late September of her first year, crying her eyes out because she'd just gotten her first F of her entire life. I got her to stop her hysterical sobs and then asked her, "P, how many other people took the test?" "About 30." "How many passed?" "Well, nobody." "Don't you think that says something about the test and not about you?" "I guess..."
5-paragraph--that's 3 ideas in the opening paragraph, a paragraph for each idea, then a closing paragraph to restate your 3 ideas? That's what I remember.
I'm going to have to drag out the Cartoon Guide to Physics again and take another shot at the math elements. I may need a brush up on algebra, though, because after high school I ran shrieking from any sign of it.
I can get the concepts of physics, what forces interact with which and how, but the math proofs overwhelm me.
It's not that my parents were notable for not praising us for being smart--they didn't praise us for anything. Our grades weren't good enough for comment. Neither was our effort. Our arts. Our sports. Our looks. Nothing. It was all back to the drawing board and achieve more, and praise might get in the way of further elevation.
I read a book this year on education in what the book termed Confucian heritage countries - China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan et al. The starting point was a mismatch between two stereotypes - first, that such countries favour rote memorisation in large classes (poor conditions from a Western understanding); but second, the students, if anything, overachieve. (Played on recently in
The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.)
The research referenced in the book indicated that neither stereotype held up so well, especially the first one. With reference to the second one, however, there was one fascinating point. In the US, and Australia (I think in the West generally), students generally attribute achievement to innate talent. In the CHCs, the students overwhelmingly attributed it to effort. Natural ability didn't even come in second (I think second was parental involvement).
You'd gather from this that kids weren't regularly being praised for being smart, and that tended to be true. Like ita, they weren't being praised for anything much at all. They were simply being pushed. If success is decided by effort, then any kid can be expected to achieve any result.
I mention this because I've witnessed this dynamic between WB and her parents. They would do anything for her, and they've been more accepting of her life choices than many Chinese parents would be. (And they accept, while they're in our house, that we call the shots concerning Ryan's parenting and such like, thus avoiding us all being transported into a classical Chinese family drama.) The one thing I've never heard them do is praise her. I have, however, heard them criticise her often. At one point this year it got so bad that they were considering going back home early. (I even got involved in it, which was an interesting situation - me talking to her parents about how they treated WB, all being interpreted for them from English into Chinese by WB.)
5-paragraph--that's 3 ideas in the opening paragraph, a paragraph for each idea, then a closing paragraph to restate your 3 ideas? That's what I remember.
Yeah. First paragraph should state your main idea, then introduce three arguments supporting it. Next three paragraphs explain each of these three arguments, and final paragraph sums up.
5-paragraph--that's 3 ideas in the opening paragraph, a paragraph for each idea, then a closing paragraph to restate your 3 ideas? That's what I remember.
I'm currently helping a classmate who needs to pass an English test to gain permanent residency in Australia. The test consists of writing one letter, and one essay (situation and topic provided, otherwise it's pretty open). I'm thinking this would be a good framework for her to use in the essay portion. (She just needs a structure she doesn't have to think about so she can focuse on the English usage.)
I coasted through high school, coasted through college, with a brief detour into physics and then back out when I couldn't handle the calculus (and couldn't be bothered to try)--I ended up with a degree in anthropology, which I found relatively easy. I still think I gave up too easy on the hard sciences, and wonder what my life would be like if I'd really dug into it.
I didn't really work hard until law school, and even that was the kind of learning & work I was good at. There was just a lot of it. There, you get a very strict form of argument beaten into you: Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion.
This conversation has made me wish I could find my ninth grade history teacher, Mr. Stewart, and thank him.
Yes. The way I love science now, I wish I had realized that back in the day. I feel like science itself is more interesting now, but maybe that's just because I get to pick and choose what I pay attention to. ETA: All the cool stuff is much more accessible these days; maybe that's it.
It is ridiculously windy outside today.
This is why I want to go back to school, because I think I know how to learn now. But oddly enough, very few continuing education programs contain "Physics for People who were Scared of Physics" courses. Heck, I should look for some remedial algebra and see how far my brain can get around higher math. That would keep the brain limber.
