Friday, September 1, 2006

The Freshmen

Working at a university, I can only say that The Freshmen is stunningly true.

On the first day of class he asks them a question. "What would you be doing if you were not in College?" They reply that they would be working in a retail store, construction, or at the paper mill in their hometown. "So you would be working 40 hours a week? Is that correct?" he says. They answer in the affirmative. He then goes on to guarantee that if they will work a 40-hour week in college, they will be successful. He asks them to "work" in their academic pursuits 8 hours a day, five days a week, with evenings and weekends off. The 40 hours must be spent either in class or in study time. He explains that if they would get up at 7 a.m., eat breakfast, and either attend class or study from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an hour off for lunch, they would have every evening off to socialize. They would also have their weekends free. He knows that this will work. He also knows that they won't take his advice.

2 comments:

  1. Being a student doesn't break down nicely into eight hour blocks, partly because the workload is not constant over time. Also, workload is just one of several overlapping cycles that affect how you are using your time. Other sorts of obligations: whether familial, economic, athletic, or otherwise help to ensure that evenings and weekends will always have to serve as study time, once in a while.

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  2. You are simply amazing! I have never read articles on this subject matter that made so much sense. Your points are right on and solid as a rock! myvegas free chips

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