Our English Sylabus

This document made me realize just how fortunate I am to be taking this course as a Freshman. Also, I realized how fortunate I am to be taking a great DCM. My friends complain about their DCM, that it is not meaningful, or applicable (though I'm sure after reading what we have read thus far, they would learn just how applicable their course likely is). By taking the words of this course to heart and living them out through my education, I will not only get a much more superior education, but I will enjoy myself while I do it.

However, I do still believe that the professors of Calvin College should ALL read this document. For example: the History 151 course I took first semester was dreadful. Even people who very much enjoy History (one a History major) could not enjoy this class. We covered from the years 200,000 BC to 1,500 AD. Even if someone set aside an incredible amount of time every day for this class, they would become "a mere globetrotter." Perhaps if this professor has simply narrowed down the covered subject of the course, there could have been more actual learning. Perhaps if the professor had only focused on the rise and fall of major empires starting with the Romans up until the 1500's.

This course instantly came to mind when our professor told us about how he teaches, and how he swore never to teach. Dates and primary sources were thrown at us from a textbook and a reader, and the only purpose of the class (at least in my mind) was to regurgitate the massive amount of information on an exam. And let me tell you, you have to eat a lot to vomit that much information.

Even with courses like that, however, we must pursue knowledge. The only reason I got up at 7:30 AM to go to that class was because it was a class I must take in order to graduate and become a high school choir director. Perhaps if I were actually thirsting for knowledge, I would have been able to enjoy that class.

I really cannot blame the professor, because as the professor said today during class, "favorable conditions never happen." We will get the professors that we get, and we will have to work with that. If we view a course simply as a stepping stone, the only importance that course will have will be that of a stepping stone. But if we view that course as a pursuit of knowledge, then that course will be as valuable as any other course we ever take.

In Christ,

Ben