Friday, November 6, 1998
Win prizes like education
in quarter system game
MIDTERMS: Good luck retaining knowledge in fast-paced
courses
Alas, my fellow Bruins, this week’s football game is an away
game.
Unfortunately, that means no sing-along bus rides, no group
chants and no victory parties. But hey, at least we get to play a
game of our own:
"Alright, UCLA contestants, you’ll be gambling big bucks once
again for the success (or dismal failure) of your educational
future. Get those hands on your textbooks because it’s time for …
‘Let’s-Study-for-Midterms!’ Johnny, tell them what they’re playing
for!"
"Bruins, you’ll be playing for a year’s supply of Fly Away
coffee! That’s right, when classes are getting you down, turn to
Fly Away to keep you up, up and awake."
This game is real life. It’s called the quarter system.
Over these past weeks I’ve witnessed things tantamount to the
horrors of war that soldiers never talk about: freshmen crying like
they’ve never cried before, students entering the library for the
first time and the coffee industry gloating over through-the-roof
profits.
Only five weeks into our studies, and midterms have already
arrived. As I engage in this ridiculous ritual, I am reminded of
the futility of a system that lauds itself for top learning, but
falls ever-so-short in that it fails to facilitate that
learning.
I once thought the purpose of college was to become a more
worldly, knowledgeable individual. I imagined the focus to be on
synthesizing and analyzing, not regurgitating and memorizing. And
yet, much of our undergraduate education here at UCLA is found in
the latter. This system is in dire need of renewal.
We’ve always been taught that the smart student stays ahead in
his or her studies and never, ever crams. But in a system where
we’re behind before we even begin, we are put in a situation where
we are forced to cram. And when a semester’s worth of material is
compounded into only nine weeks, the system is too quick to be
substantial, yet too substantial to be so quick.
One of the most grave consequences of the quarter system is the
decrease in overall learning. In so little time, material cannot be
adequately absorbed and actively synthesized. The focus shifts from
learning for its intrinsic value to furiously cramming for the sole
purpose of getting an A.
And while grades are certainly key to applying for majors and
graduate schools, their importance plummets shortly thereafter.
Real world knowledge and understanding then take over, leaving the
straight-A students heading straight for a dead end; sure, they
know how to get an A, but do they know how to think?
Unfortunately, we are not given the chance to think; we must
focus our energies on cognitive economizing and studying just
what’s important  what’s important, that is, to know for the
exam.
I see the beginnings of this everyday, with students cutting
corners on reading and skipping irrelevant lectures. Personally, I
am famous for skipping the illustrations, graphs and footnotes in
my textbooks, even though they may be quite relevant to the
subject.
Another disappointment is the lack of motivation that results
from this system. Because the quarter system is so short, we are
forced to furiously memorize with mnemonic devices, songs, rhymes
 whatever it takes to keep the material in our heads for just
one more day. After several quarters of this monotonous grind,
however, it becomes hard to maintain that determination to study,
when in the end we know we’ll retain only 1 percent of it.
Furthermore, this creates a vicious cycle, whereupon losing
motivation causes us to study less, and in studying less we get
lower grades. You get the picture.
A final thought: The fast-paced quarter system should be blamed
as the culprit behind so many students’ legitimate excuses of "I’m
too busy" or "I don’t have enough time." We’ve been chided by
self-help gurus in this society, who tell us that "not having time"
is no excuse, that we have to make time. But for
quarter-system-sufferers, this really is true! Sure, there’s enough
time in the day … if sleep isn’t figured into the equation.
I despair at how many truly significant and exciting endeavors
college students could immerse themselves in, if only they had the
time.
Just think of the career-preparatory activities that students
could fully utilize to their future advantage, such as paid
internships or part-time jobs, if only they had the time. When
academia overshadows every other opportunity, how well-rounded are
we really?
So while our team is in Oregon this weekend making winning their
top priority, and we sit at home hitting the books, let us ponder
how well the administrators and faculty are making us their top
priority. As long as we are subjected to a lightning-speed,
over-accelerated system in which learning finishes last, this is
one game we are never going to win.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]