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Ask HN: Succeeding in a boring subject, or Making learning fun

3 points by newsisan 16y ago

Economics is dead to me, turned into a meaningless exercise of assigned textbook summarization by my teacher (the subject itself is awesome, but as often happens, the way it is being taught is... horrible).<p>That doesn't change the fact that I want to do well in the class, so what techniques can I apply to get motivated on this? I just don't bother with it, and the stress over work that should have been done is building up..

ecaradec 16y ago
- Ask your teacher if he use some book and get this book. It's better to get the original than the copy - If you don't like that book, get another one Quantic mechanic was a really boring subject to me, until I got a book that was more interesting than my teacher. It really worked for me, but I'm a book person.
michael_dorfman 16y ago
A few thoughts-- First, the best piece of advice regard college I have to give: next time around, choose your courses based on the professor, not the subject. An engaging professor can make a dull subject come alive; a dull professor can suck the life out of even the most interesting subject. Find out who the best professors are, and take whatever they're teaching. That doesn't help you this time round, of course. Let's look more closely at your predicament. You say: I want to do well in the class, so what techniques can I apply to get motivated on this? In other words, the techniques we are looking for are not about Economics, or your relationship to the subject matter, but more practical-- how can you get motivated to do well in class? You give the answer your self, a few sentences earlier, when you say that the subject has been turned into a meaningless exercise of assigned textbook summarization by my teacher. In other words, if you want to do well in the class, you need to summarize the textbook. Note that by your own testimony, this is far from "meaningless"; you want to do well in the class, and this is what you need to do to do well. That's pretty damn meaningful. My advice then, is: forget about "Making learning fun" in this instance. You're not here to have fun. Treat this course as a job. Show up and do the work. If it were fun, they wouldn't be paying you (in the form of credits toward a degree.) I took about five years off in the middle of my undergraduate education, and worked in a series of factory jobs. The shift in perspective upon returning to college was amazing. I vividly remember the first day of class, when a professor held up a book and said that our homework for the next week was to read it. The other students were horrified: "You mean we have to read a whole book?" I, on the other hand, was a bit puzzled. "You mean, all I have to do is read a book? I don't have to put 144 copies of the book into a box, and load the boxes onto a pallet, and then move the pallets onto the back of a truck? I just have to sit down and read it? And I have a whole week to do it?" Seriously: just read the damn textbook, and understand it well enough to be able to summarize it back. Have a roommate quiz you, if you don't trust yourself. An hour a day of focused attention, and you're home free. And next time, choose your courses based on the professor. Thus endeth the sermon.

3 points by newsisan 16y ago

ecaradec 16y ago

- Ask your teacher if he use some book and get this book. It's better to get the original than the copy - If you don't like that book, get another one Quantic mechanic was a really boring subject to me, until I got a book that was more interesting than my teacher. It really worked for me, but I'm a book person.

michael_dorfman 16y ago

A few thoughts-- First, the best piece of advice regard college I have to give: next time around, choose your courses based on the professor, not the subject. An engaging professor can make a dull subject come alive; a dull professor can suck the life out of even the most interesting subject. Find out who the best professors are, and take whatever they're teaching. That doesn't help you this time round, of course. Let's look more closely at your predicament. You say: I want to do well in the class, so what techniques can I apply to get motivated on this? In other words, the techniques we are looking for are not about Economics, or your relationship to the subject matter, but more practical-- how can you get motivated to do well in class? You give the answer your self, a few sentences earlier, when you say that the subject has been turned into a meaningless exercise of assigned textbook summarization by my teacher. In other words, if you want to do well in the class, you need to summarize the textbook. Note that by your own testimony, this is far from "meaningless"; you want to do well in the class, and this is what you need to do to do well. That's pretty damn meaningful. My advice then, is: forget about "Making learning fun" in this instance. You're not here to have fun. Treat this course as a job. Show up and do the work. If it were fun, they wouldn't be paying you (in the form of credits toward a degree.) I took about five years off in the middle of my undergraduate education, and worked in a series of factory jobs. The shift in perspective upon returning to college was amazing. I vividly remember the first day of class, when a professor held up a book and said that our homework for the next week was to read it. The other students were horrified: "You mean we have to read a whole book?" I, on the other hand, was a bit puzzled. "You mean, all I have to do is read a book? I don't have to put 144 copies of the book into a box, and load the boxes onto a pallet, and then move the pallets onto the back of a truck? I just have to sit down and read it? And I have a whole week to do it?" Seriously: just read the damn textbook, and understand it well enough to be able to summarize it back. Have a roommate quiz you, if you don't trust yourself. An hour a day of focused attention, and you're home free. And next time, choose your courses based on the professor. Thus endeth the sermon.