Ernest Hemingway put it correctly when he said "before you quit, try." That's what happens in this world a lot. People quit before they try. With this class in general (innovation and product management) we don't get grade feedback. Now, is this beneficial or is this detrimental? This is obviously up for debate which my professor would actually love. Many will say that it's great, others like myself, absolutely hate it. What's the point of trying when you don't know how well youre performing and how well youre succeeding? We get nothing until our professor goes and uploads the grades on our online gradebook. When I finally get to looking...69%.
We go back to Ernest and his point of quitting. I hadn't had feedback throughout the semester and my performance has showed. But it was too late. Next week is the end of the semester and I am currently sitting with a D in the class and nothing to figure out as to how I got that way. So do I quit or do I try? That's where I stumble. How many more points do we have until the end of the semester? We don't know due to the no grades policy.
I feel like quitting, giving up, letting the grade control the outcome of the class, and ultimately just taking the D because I have no clue what exactly she wanted. Another part of me is a tiger. I want that grade, even if it's a C. I want that grade. Obviously I want a B or even a B+ considering the class is going to be a player in my GPA upon graduation. The question though is do I continue to try. Do I speak to my professor after class, ask her to help, and see what I can do? Or do I act timid and take the grade I rightfully earned even though there was no feedback and nothing to show me I was doing something right or doing something wrong?
It bothers me that this is what college is about. It's about grades. It's about making sure you have the hghest grades and the best GPA. It's detrimental to our creativity and to our actually learning. many college kids learn the material for the exam. They don't need to recall it after the exam, unless it's for the final. So why try? Why not just quit, submit to the professors demands, and get the grade? That's what college has taught me.
Within my five long years here, if I have learned anything, it was that college has stunted my ability to grow and be creative. In fact, I believe that college stunted my creative growth. I am not a creative person and I blame college. I learned to write papers, not based off of what I want, but instead on what other people want; what professors want. I learned to take my ideas and mold them to what the professor might enjoy reading or what I would think the professor will enjoy. I don't care about my own opinions because I want the good grade instead of the creative mindset.
Now I know what you're thinking. What about majors that are to promote creativity but truly the only major that comes close to thatis creative writing. I spend a semester focusing on creative writing to see if that's something I would enjoy. I found that even though they claim to promote creativity, they actually stunt it as well. You write your paper to your own creative personalities and workshop them in class where students can rip you apart and morph your paper into something you've never seen before. It's to the point where it doesn't become your own paper anymore. It becomes a portrait of someone else. You can't even see yourself anymore.
So once again, we come back to our thought provoking author, Mr. Hemingway. We ask him what he believes and he tells us that before we quit, we are supposed to try. My question to every single one of you is what's the point of trying when all we do is get let down and changed into something we are not.
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