Tag: Student

College students spending less time studying [but it costs more!]

Parents [and students] ponder this:

Over the past half-century, the amount of time college students actually study – read, write, and otherwise prepare for class – has dwindled from 24 hours a week to about 15, survey data show.

And that invites a question: Has college become too easy?

Ashley Dixon, a sophomore at George Mason University, anticipated more work in college than in high school. Instead, she has less. In a typical week, Dixon spends 18 hours in classes and another 12 in study. All told, college course work occupies 30 hours of her week. Dixon is a full-time student, but college, for her, is a part-time job.

“I was expecting it to be a lot harder,’’ said Dixon, 20. “I thought I was going to be miserable, trying to get good grades. And I do get good grades, and I’m not working very hard.’’

Declining study time is a discomfiting truth about the vaunted US higher-education system. The trend is generating debate over how much students really learn, even as colleges raise tuition every year.

Some critics say colleges and their students have grown lazy. Today’s collegiate culture, they say, rewards students with high grades for minimal effort and distracts them with athletics, clubs, and climbing walls on campuses that increasingly resemble resorts.

Academic leaders counter that students are as busy as ever but that their attention is consumed in part by jobs they take to help make ends meet.” Get more here: College students spending less time studying – Nation – The Boston Globe.

Now, consider this:

2

A Mayonnaise Jar and Two Beers….

Golf balls.

A friend passed this on with the admonition to share it with someone I care about. That would be you…

“When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours
in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 beers…
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in
front of him.
When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls..
He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured
the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space
between the sand.
The students laughed.
‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things—your family, your children,
your health, your friends and your favorite passions—and if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house
and your car.
The sand is everything else—the small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no
room for the pebbles or golf balls.
The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never
have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children.
Spend time with your parents.
Visit with grandparents.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your spouse out to dinner.
Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter.
Set your priorities…..
The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer
represented…
The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’
The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there’s always room for a couple of beers with a friend…”
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