Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to help you get started right
... by starting with the right attitude.

You should learn:

1.

How big a job it is to be a college student and how to be a professional student.

2.

The meaning of being functionally literate and how to be an optimistic student.

3.

The importance of making a commitment.

4.

The fact that one learns how to learn.

5.

The hypothesis that daily learning is limited.

You should also study the following appendices:

• Appendix A : On Time Management
• Appendix B : Vocabulary Pre-Test
• Appendix C : Commitment by Contract

Going to college is not just going on to the thirteenth grade. Even in subjects like math, where college courses may pick up wherever your high school courses left off, the style is different. In high school, most learning is done in the classroom, with a smaller portion given as homework. In college, most learning is done outside of class. The most important difference between high school and college is that YOU must take primary responsibility for your education.

College courses use the "mastery" concept. This means that the professor sets a criterion level of knowledge or proficiency in the subject and all you need to do to pass the course is to demonstrate that level. Indeed, you can learn the material entirely on your own and then challenge the course. This doesn't mean that professors won't help you learn. College is not you on one side against a professor on the other; it is you and a professor against the subject. They want you to master the subject and they will do what-ever they can to help you learn. After all, teaching (that is, professing") is their chosen profession. But they expect you to do your part and to do it very largely on your own initiative. Like never before, it is really up to you.

There is a "rule of thumb," or informal guide-line about how much time you should plan for independent study in college. It is this: Average students should spend twice as many hours outside of class as they spend in class in order to get an average "C" grade. Thus, if you have registered for a full 15-hour course load, this rule says that you should plan on spending 30 hours studying, IF you are an average student and IF you are willing to settle for "C" grades. You may need less time if you are an above average student, and you may need more time if you want "quality" grades of "A" or "B". In sum, being a full-time student is at least a 45-hour per week job.

Although this guideline is useful in giving you a general idea about the dimensions of the task, it presumes the wrong attitude toward your role as student. The two-for-one rule treats the student as if s/he were a laborer who works by the hour. I urge you to adopt the attitude of a professional student. Professionals work by the task, not by the hour. (Imagine a surgeon stopping in the middle of an operation and saying, "Well, my hour is up; I'll come back tomorrow to finish removing this tumor.") Accordingly, your first goal is to analyze your assignments and divide them up into units that you can treat as tasks. Then you can be a professional student and complete each task as it comes along.

Of course, you can learn to anticipate the time that each of your tasks will probably require. Also, you are likely to find that working by the task encourages you to work faster and you will have to be honest with yourself in deciding when a task is really finished. Adopting a professional attitude toward your role as a student does not mean all work and no play. It does mean defining the tasks that need to be done and then doing them.