Replying to LO25517 --
The Milk Project LO25497
Ah this story brigs back a flood of memories of my own childhood. If i may
be so bold to share some of them :)
I was a fast and eager learner from my early days (as early as 1 yr old).
I remember when i was 5 yrs old and was in Grade 2 or 3 i think ( yeah i
forced my parents to send me to school early cuz i wanted to get ready
already! weird kid i say!). They had asked us to name 5 bones in the human
body and label them in a simple diagram. Now they expected us to do a
simple stick figure thingy and point and attempt naming 5. sure thing.
Both my parents are doctors and in private practice and since i was a
young one i wanted to see all they did so spent hours sitting with them at
their work place. In my spare time, i used to pick up dads books like the
Merck Manual or the Anatomy and Physiology guide and read up as best as i
could.
Then came that day. Final exams. Came home from science exam and told dad
i aced it!-with a big grin, proud of what i had done.
Then came the results with a 0/5 on the question where i had labelled. My
dad was astonished.
I had drawn the medical sketch to perfection of the human skeleton - and
named ALL the bones...even the 2 new defined ones that were found just that
year i think!!! I was in tears from hell. My dad saw the teacher and this
was the reply: " she is learning too fast. this is not what we expect from
kids at this age. We only want her to answer the question that is being
asked. its not right." I didnt get my marks changed.
That was a sad day in the life i live. it hurt me deep. i just wanted to
learn. And i had been punished by a teacher...someone i respected and
looked up to as the knowledge giver.
I was 18 next. At University. At the end of first year, I fared badly in
one paper of my 10 full years for my Physics. Probable reason given by
teacher to my parents for my failure: "i think she studies too much. she
sees something interseting and goes into it deep while others just focus
on what the content is and pass the tests and exams as needed. i think she
needs to just not read too much and just stick to the curriculum. how hard
is that?"
I knew i didnt belong that very day. it hurt deep again.
This debate of task and project has been a struggle within me. Even if a
task is defined for me, my hunger to learn makes me turn it into a
project. Dont get me wrong, i do complete the task at hand but i also
pursue the project. I am not satisfied until the project is complete. i
will not even hand the task in until i am satisfied the project is ready -
even if in an assignment e.g. in my masters i have to appendix 15 pages to
2 main pages of the task...as long i have learnt all that can be learnt by
it. For this i get penalised and punished still.
it still hurts. it hurts deep. all i wanted was to learn and yet the guy
who did his minimal and spent the other hour licking the professors ass
got the job during graduate recruitment at places like KPMG, PWC etc. and
i got rejected by all.
It hurts. all i wanted to do was learn.
Joy Vatsyayann
BSc Physics Hons. (III), BSc Biology (Genetics Major),
PGDip. in Management Systems,
Masters in Management Systems (current)
Waikato University
Hamilton
New Zealand
pixie_delite@hotmail.com
--"Pixie Delite" <pixie_delite@hotmail.com>
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