School is a Heaven, and Study a Blessing
2016-03-06
Since I have not written blogs for nearly one month, so I want to take the chance to say sorry for all my friends on the platform. It was not because I did not want to continue my writing, but because in the past 20 days I had no access to Internet, and what's worse, recently I have been fully occupied by school works. In fact, I have been back to my campus for a whole week. It seems that everything has changed in the past one year, so I had to spend those days adapting to my new school life. Here I want to share with you some of my thoughts.
Now in my mind, school is a heaven, and study a blessing.
Some of you may hold different opinions toward campus life. For example, some may probably argue that school is a hell, for everyday piles of school works stand in front of us, and suppressing exams also wait us. It is true of it, but only when you take this life for granted. In the past, I tended to take my days in school as another kind of vocation. I did not need to stress myself out for making a living, for my parents had already paid off my tuition fees and living expenses. I took these for granted as if my parents were supposed to support me, economically and psychologically. As for study, it was no more than a daily routine. It was not because I wanted to study, but because I was required to do so by both my teachers and my parents. However, thanks to my teaching life abroad, I have had opposite views now. Nowadays, I start to appreciate how precious my school life is.
First of all, I want to make it clear that I have paid the expensive tuition fees all by myelf, and I support myself dependently. Since my life abroad last year taught me how hard it is to earn a living, I realize that my every moment in the school is charged to certain amount of money. If I do not want to waste my money, the only way is to learn as much as I can. The more I learn, the less I lose. Therefore, I need to take advantage of every resource I can get from the school and make full use of my time. My life here is based on my own investment. By the way, time is money, and money means a lot to me, especially when I still have lots of student loans to pay off.
Second, I realize that school may be the last place where I can free myself from different kinds of social pressures. For instance, I do not need to trap myself in the trivialities of life, such as when to clean and when to cook, when to buy and when to pay. As long as I have enough money in my pocket, I can live comfortably and peaceful in the campus. Moreover, I no longer suffer that much from peer pressures. When I was exposed to social life, such questions from my peers frequently flooded over me, as "What do you do?", "How much is your salary", "Are you still single?“. But here in campus, the focus is on study, a much easier topic.
Last but not least, I begin to appreciate and respect others' works. I used to think that some of my teachers were teaching meaninglessly, so I did not have to listen to them. But now, I think totally differently. Teaching is not a one-way process, but a two-way interation. Both teachers and students need to involve themselves in it. They need to be interactive and communicative in the process of teaching and learning. We have our own expectations on our teachers, but our teachers also have the right to expect something back from us. If we cannot be "professional" student, how could we expect our teachers to behave professionally? Apparently, we are not the center of the world, so no one is supposed to take care of us all the times. We cannot expect something from others if we ourself cannot fulfill the same expectation.
Believe it or not, I feel so lucky that I can have a lot of time to study in my campus, and that I can take the time to prepare for what I want to achieve in future. By the way, I do feel I am blessed to live and study in my campus.
I should thank you for your attention. I really appreciate different thoughts from different people. I think Chinadaily provides a wonderful platform for bloggers to exchange their thoughts. Looking forward to hearing more from you~my friend~
I really love your last sentence. "In school, you need to open your mind, be critical, and be practical." And I agree with you that students should try to take full use of diversified opportunities and activities to explore their interests and potential. Thanks for your reply.
Back to your question again, I think school is a must in one's life, and what you learn in school will be your assets in a long run. Nowadays in school, there is no "dominant" knowledge or thoughts, everything can be challenged. If you waste your time in school, then school is an asylum to you. But if you make full use of your time in school, then it is a heaven. So when people argue that school cannot equip students with "skills" what they need in their career, I really want to ask them the cruel question: "Did you work hardest to learn what school offers you? " If you cannot turn what you learn from school into real returns, it is your fault, but not the school. In school, you need to open your minds, be critical, and be practical.
For me, the definition of "school" varies from what you thought. School is far more than a place where you can only learn "knowledge". Indeed, schools will offer us academic knowledge, but that is not the whole picture of school. School can also teach us how to judge the right from the wrong, how to keep head cool, and how to look at our inner self, and how to expose us to the outside world. Moreover, life is chool doesn't mean that you are selused from social life. We can aquire skills after short-term training, but can we acquire our values in the same way? I think it is pathetic that many people subjectively separate schools from society. By the way, school is a special unit of society, just like your family.
This is a good reflective essay on educational opportunity and motivation. While reading your second reason for loving campus life, however, I couldn't help asking myself two questions: is it enough for our schools to equip the students with much more knowledge to meet their professional standards than skills to meet their peer and social pressure in reality? If not, are our schools heaven, or just asylum?
This is a good reflective essay on educational opportunity and motivation. While reading your second reason for loving your campus life, however, I couldn't help asking myself one question: is it enough for our schools to equip our students with much more knowledge to meet their professional standards than skills to deal with peer and social pressure in the future? If not, are our schools heaven, or just asylum?
if you are in Beijing, and sometimes you want to experience campus life, you can come to visit me. I can show you around.
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