Photo courtesy of Lili Vieira de Carvalho 7 Habits Essential for Tackling the Multitasking Virus
Editor’s note: I’m thrilled to have this guest post from Josh Waitzkin, author of The Art of Learning, and the subject of the book and movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer. An eight-time National Chess Champion in his youth, he is now a martial arts champion, holding a combined 21 National titles in addition to several World Championships.
I recently wrote an article about a heartbreaking new trend in our classrooms. In Universities throughout the US, students are surfing the internet, shopping online, Facebooking, and emailing while their professors speak to disengaged minds.
One can argue that kids have always passed notes, but this semester’s explosion of multi-tasking is on a terrifying scale and teachers nationwide are bereft. The Dean of the University of Chicago Law School just banned surfing during class. Harvard Business School was forced to cut off internet access. Columbia, Barnard and countless others are hustling for solutions, but students demand that their rights are not infringed upon.
You can read my account of this crisis and of the dangers of multitasking in this piece on Tim Ferriss’s blog. What I would like to do now is propose some actionable solutions to a cultural problem that extends far beyond our schools.
In my opinion, cutting off internet access in classrooms, while a good idea, is just addressing the symptom of a much broader disengagement. We have to get to the root of the problem by understanding why kids, and adults for that matter, are not deeply immersed in what they are doing.
What is getting in the way of presence? Alienation. From a very young age, kids are not being listened to and so they are turning off their minds. Horrible policies like No Child Left Behind, and the gauntlet of standardized tests our kids have to endure, are turning education into a forced march. Most of the professional world is an extension of the same problem. Everyone is being jammed into the same cookie cutter mold, and that is not how anyone will thrive. Below are some internal solutions to navigating an increasingly disconnected external environment.
1. Do what you love. This seems pretty obvious, but it’s incredible how few of us actually do it. Life is too short to bog ourselves down in a life that doesn’t inspire us. I believe that children, from a very young age, should be encouraged to pursue what they are passionate about. Most kids are drawn to something early—maybe it will be math, music, a sport, painting, dance, reading, chess, whatever. Once you see that spark of inspiration in your child’s eyes, encourage her to dive in. If we dig deeply into something, anything, at a young age, and we touch Quality, then that scent of Quality will be a beacon for us for the rest of our lives. We will know what it feels like. And we will know what it is like to love learning. Then, as adults, we should build our lives around what inspires us. It is common to box ourselves into a lucrative career that we hate, with the belief that the money will make us happy. Of course it will not. I have found that if we do what we love, and we do it passionately, the external will follow naturally.
2. Do it in a way you love and connect to. It is astonishing how this principle is ignored. All of us have different minds, and so our road to mastery will be unique. The art in the learning process emerges when we begin to tap into the unique nuance of our minds—when the walls are broken down between the conscious and unconscious minds, when creative inspiration directs our technical growth. There are some very simple questions we can ask ourselves to get moving in this direction. For example, am I primarily an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learner? What about secondarily? I, for one, am a visual and kinesthetic processor. If I see ten phone numbers I can remember them, but if I hear one, it will be a challenge. Imagine if you have a teacher who is an auditory processor, speaking in his or her language to your child who has a visual mind. The disconnect will be huge. And your child might be incorrectly diagnosed with a learning disability.
But this is just one question. Are we charismatic, creative, aggressive, conservative, organized? Do we thrive in stormy conditions or when things are under control? Introspective sensitivity should be at the core of our learning process, so we can build games and loves around our strengths, and so we can address our weaknesses in a language that makes sense to us. This issue is very personal to me, as it precipitated the crisis that ended my chess career. I lost a life’s work because I did not listen to my gut, and it took me many years and a new discipline to return to my roots. We must be true to ourselves to thrive.
3. Give people a Choice and they become engaged. My mom told me a beautiful story a few nights ago. She learned to play chess from me and for the past fifteen years has run chess programs in schools in New York City and New Jersey. She’s the greatest teacher and mother I could ever dream of. In one of her kindergarten classes there is a little boy named Evan who drives all his teachers crazy. No matter what they are doing, he always wants to read a book. His school life has become defined by teachers taking books out of his hands, telling him to sit down and listen with the rest of the kids. This is unfortunately a typical response to an unusual mind.
So in my mom’s first few chess classes with Evan, she would be teaching a lesson on a demonstration board, or everyone would be playing chess games, and Evan would walk to the bookshelf, pick up a book, sit down and start reading. My mom’s solution: she smiled and gave Evan a chess book that covered similar material to what she was teaching. He immediately put down his other book, opened his eyes wide and started reading the chess book. The wonderful thing about the story is that after a few classes in which my mom embraced his mind and gave him a chess book to read, Evan started putting down the chess book and listening to her lessons. Then he started playing chess with the other kids instead of isolating himself. The next somewhat surprising step is that some other kids started asking for chess books too. The visual learners started to creep out of the woodwork, and the whole class now thrives because a teacher was willing to listen to them.
4. Release a fear of failure. This is a big issue. The constant testing in our schools, and the bottom-line language of our culture has kids terrified of failing. We’ve all heard the “I wasn’t trying” excuse. That is protecting the ego. And disengaging from any one thing by skipping along the surface of everything is another version of not trying. Many kids, by the way, have told me their attraction to video games is an escape from the pressures of the real world. They are safe from failing in that virtual reality. If we can relieve the fear of failure, then engagement will become a less terrifying experience.
Fortunately, this is not so difficult. Parents and teachers simply need to transition from result-oriented to process-oriented feedback. Tell a child you are proud of the work done instead of praising the result. Help them internalize what developmental psychologists call an incremental theory of intelligence—a perspective that associates the road to mastery with effort and overcoming adversity. The alternative, a fixed or entity theory associates success with an ingrained level of ability in a particular trait—thus the language “I’m smart at math.” This is a much more brittle approach because it does not embrace imperfection. Most valuable lessons come from learning from our errors, and if we associate messing up with being “dumb” then we can become paralyzed by a fear of failure. Think about it this way—if a well-intentioned parent tells a child that she is a winner, and that child associates success with being a winner, what happens when she inevitably loses? The winner becomes a loser. The developmental psychologist Carol Dweck has done very important research and writing in this field, and I have explored the dynamic in the context of my life in The Art of Learning.
5. Build positive routines.Cultivating new habits is the best way to get rid of bad ones. This is a simple truth with infinite application. We are creatures of habit, and so we should build positive routines into our lives. Exercise, honesty, process-oriented language, introspection, meditation, reading—anything we believe will help our growth can be put into a routine that will help us thrive. So if you are trying to get your child to stop playing video games, then I would suggest replacing the activity with something else that he or she loves to do but that is healthy—for example go outside and have a catch, read a book together, or go to a dance class during video game hours. Do this for 5 or 6 days in a row and the craving for reading or exercise will replace the craving for Nintendo.
Routines can also be built to help us enter states of deep concentration or connectedness. In my chess and martial arts careers, a moment without presence can have devastating effect, and building routines that I condense into triggers for the zone has been an integral part of my process.
6. Do one thing at a time. If we are tackling multi-tasking, we can replace the habit of doing 6 things at once with the routine of doing one thing at a time. Leo has written powerfully about the effectiveness of focusing on less, and I couldn’t agree more. Skipping along the surface will get us nowhere, and if we cultivate the muscle of digging deep, then it will grow. Not only will single-tasking increase effectiveness, but it will also open up our creativity in the learning process. We’ll start making connections we never dreamed of, because we’ll be touching the principles that operate everywhere.
Let’s take the martial arts as an example—most people want to start off by learning ten or fifteen fancy techniques that they’ve seen in movies or watched the advanced students apply. This will lead to years of wasted time and hollow learning. The more powerful approach is to spend days, weeks, even months on one relatively simple technique. What happens then is quite beautiful. You start to get a sense for what it feels like to do something well with your body. Your mechanics become unobstructed, you experience a smooth fluidity, you focus on subtle ripples of sensation. Once you reach this point of full body flow, you can turn your attention to other techniques and you will very quickly internalize them at a high level, because you know what Quality feels like—or in less abstract language, you have internalized axioms that govern all techniques. This same process applies to chess. Learn a principle deeply, and it will manifest everywhere. Whatever we are cultivating, depth beats breadth any day of the week.
7. Take Breaks. This is a terribly underappreciated tool, especially in the work place. When I begin to train a company, without exception I see too much linearity in the workday and creative process. People start the day buzzing with energy, but then after a few hours they are tired and perform at a much lower level. That’s when the hunt for coffee begins, there is a brief buzz, and the inevitable crash looms just around the corner.
There is no way we can focus intensely on something for many hours in a row without burning out. The human mind thrives in an oscillatory rhythm. We need to pulse between stress and recovery in order to think creatively over long periods of time. I learned this lesson in my chess career, trying to concentrate feverishly in world-class tournaments 8 hours a day for two weeks straight. After starting to train with the performance psychologists at the Human Performance Institute, I noticed that after an intense 13 minutes of thinking in a chess game, the quality of my process deteriorated slightly. So I started taking little breaks between chess moves or whenever my energy flagged—if extremely tired, I’d wash my face with cold water or even go outside and sprint 50 yards, which would flush my physiology and leave me energized. My endurance and creativity soared. A nap is a beautiful thing to fill up the tank. So is a quick 30 minute workout. A great way to improve mental recovery is with physical interval training. Have you or your child’s physical exercise follow the rhythm of stress and recovery, and your ability to take breaks and recover from mental strain will also improve dramatically.
A big obstacle in this battle against disengagement is guilt. We have so much to do and so little time, taking a break seems absurd—the same could be argued for doing what we love in a way we connect to, releasing perfectionism, giving ourselves some freedom to choose our way, building positive routines, and doing one thing at a time. Release the guilt! Four or six hours of high quality, inspired immersion will be infinitely more effective and satisfying than eight or ten hours of grinding your way through the day and getting locked into a mechanized, inside-the-box mode that ignores your true potential. For child and adult, learning or working should not be a forced march, and in order to engage deeply and creatively, we need to be as organic as possible by listening to our internal rhythms.
A note from Josh: Dear Teachers and Parents, I am researching the effect of video games on young minds. If you think it might be a healthy experience for your kids, please ask them to give up video games for two weeks, and write me about the experience at TheArtofLearning@gmail.com. Thank you! Josh Waitzkin
Josh is president of the JW Foundation, an educational nonprofit. He is currently training for the World Championships of his third discipline, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and lectures nationwide on the subjects of the learning process and performance psychology.
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- Posted on 9 June 2008 in Productivity & Organization, Simplicity |
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Comments (62)
Jonathan B. Says:
June 9th, 2008, 21:23 pm
No doubt. Whenever there are computers with Internet access in my classrooms, I always see people browsing the web and just zoning out. No attention spans at all.
Leo Says:
June 9th, 2008, 21:28 pm
Just want to clarify, in case anyone misses the editor’s note, that this is a guest post from Josh Waitzkin … read his bio info at the top and bottom of the post. He’s the Searching for Bobby Fisher kid! Among other amazing accomplishments of course.
Vered Says:
June 9th, 2008, 21:31 pm
Taking breaks in the workplace is not just underappreciated - it is frowned upon. Instead of encouraging us to take short breaks, drink water and maybe even get some fresh air, my former workplace bought expensive espresso machines for every floor of the building. Employees would brew strong coffee, then hurry back to their cubicles or offices to drink it in front of the computer, while working.
Re video games, I have to wonder - if the kids would replace the video games with TV or computer time, the experiment wouldn’t necessarily have the results you are looking for, would it? Unless you think video games are more damaging than the other stuff. My kids (2 daughters) don’t play any video games, but my youngest definitely spends too much time on her computer.
Jonathan B. Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:01 pm
Indeed, Vered. This is actually very cool. If I remember correctly, Josh used to give me tips in Chessmaster on my PC.
I won’t discuss my ability. Thanks for trying, Josh! ;)
Sandra Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:13 pm
Sorry, but I have to call BS on some of the assumptions in the beginning of this article. Might be more relevant to the article on the other blog, but well, ZH is the one I read, and here’s where I’ll reply.
First of all, it assumes that all classes and all professors are beneficial to learning. This is, sadly, simply not the case. Even at Stanford, where you can receive one of the best educations in the world, I’ve taken classes that were a COMPLETE and utter waste of my time. Take the Egypt class I took this quarter: the professor had no creativity, no effort to engage the class, no credibility, and no charisma. His lectures were flat, boring, and full of his wild, factually ungrounded assumptions.
Many people taking courses like this choose to simply not go to lecture, because it is a *waste of time*. Is that a better solution than multitasking? At least when you’re present but doing something else too, you passively absorb some information. That, and you don’t miss the fact that they changed the date of the final.
Then there was the class about China I was forced to take. It was taught by a grad student who obviously didn’t care about the material and who essentially read to us from a summary of the book chapters we were assigned. Her lecturing style was so boring and she was so hard to understand that it was nearly impossible to stay away in the warm classroom shortly after lunch. Is it better to fall asleep in class, although well rested, than to surf the internet to keep myself awake, and again, to passively absorb at least SOME information - or at the least, to not be rude to this teacher who, although not good at it, seemed to be trying her best?
Multitasking to stay awake is a theme of many people’s college careers. I don’t think adults quite realize this. Even for those of us who aren’t up all night/weekend partying, those of us who sleep 8-9 hours a night, it can still be a struggle. Concentrate on one thing for too long and it can lull you into a comfort zone from which you then fall asleep.
——-
I’m not saying I disagree with all of the above, just getting out my nay-sayings.
Rafael Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:34 pm
I think the whole education systems is flawed. Students feel forced to be in a class room, so either find another way in which they can learn and demonstrate their learning or simply allowed them to do something else without wasting the schools and teachers resources.
Shanel Yang Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:39 pm
I loved that movie! How cool to be commenting on a post by the real life main character! Hi, Josh — and best of luck on your martial arts competition!
Giving children the desire to learn something new, especially when their friends are also so obviously not interested in learning it, is a daunting task. I’ve thought a lot about this problem lately b/c I’m preparing to start substitute teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District jr. high and high school. LAUSD is the worst public school system in the world. No exaggeration. I, myself grew up in the LAUSD system and can attest to the poor quality of education offered there. But, it’s hard to tell who is more at fault, the teachers or the students.
If I had to choose, I’d say the teachers. Though, I had a few amazingly supportive ones, none of them were able to instill in me (or any of my classmates as far as I could tell) the idea that we could succeed in a world that seemed (and I stress “seemed” b/c I now know this is not true) to reward only the rich, freakishly gifted, or extremely lucky. As far as I could see in my old neighborhoods, none of us were any of those.
The biggest problem was that — as well meaning as most of our teachers were — our parents (mostly poor, uneducated, often resorting to corporal punishment) ruled our world until we were old enough to try to escape them whenever we could into the world of TV, the telephone, and our peers. I guess the TV and telephone have been replaced mostly with computer games, internet, and the latest iPhones and such.
But the teachers could have made a difference anyway if they had the courage to even acknowledge that they knew we had parents who beat us. (There was no legal requirement to report such suspicions to the authorities in the 70s.) Or, even to help us when we were being bullied by other students. I guess our teachers had problems of their own, too. But, be that as it may, as kids, we felt abandoned by adults and felt they only gave us lip service when they claimed to be trying to help us — at least in my childhood neighborhoods.
So, my plan is to teach the incredible lessons in Dweck’s book about how to change your mindset to change your life. My first priority is to teach those kids that they can be anything they want if they believe it — and then I want to prove it to them with a series of demonstrations that will make their own eyes open in wonder and disbelief. Just as Dweck did in her research. I’m very excited!
Thanks for the great post and spreading the word about this important issue!!
Miss Gisele B | myBeautyMatch.com Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:42 pm
Leo,
This post is getting cute the reader discussion.
Multi-tasking is quite tiring in my opinion and i think you can get better results by focusing on one tasks at the time. You are much more productive that way.
Any productivity book will tell you that and booking time for certain activities is best.
Misse Gisele B.
Miss Gisele B | myBeautyMatch.com Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:44 pm
Leo,
I’m having problems commenting on your site today.
I tried 3 times???
Miss Gisele B.
Carol Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:47 pm
Josh thanks again for an excellent post (I also loved the ones on Tim Ferriss’s blog) My favorite part of this article is the very powerful story about Evan in “Give people a Choice and they become engaged”.
Your message is so important and powerful! Thank You.
Laurie Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:50 pm
I have read Carol Dweck’s book “MindSet” which talks about the link between praising intellegence instead of effort and fear of failure. It was a really interesting read.
I am a teacher and allowing for differentiation and learning styles comes with experience and training. It also comes with being able to let go of some of the control in a classroom. Teachers who need that control are going to be more cookie cutter teachers. Those who give a lot of the control to the kids are going to have different things going on in their rooms, it’s going to be louder, and the learning will be higher level and more engaging.
While requiring more work on the front end of a differentiated lesson, there is less direct teaching and more inquiry and therefore less work on the back end. You have to be a good socratic questioner with this because there is no telling where some of the kids will take you. You have to redirect them with your questioning. But all in all, it’s the only way to go. It’s great fun and the learning is long term!
Miss Gisele B | myBeautyMatch.com Says:
June 9th, 2008, 22:51 pm
Leo,
Focusing on one tasks at a time is the best solution in my opinion for maximum results.
Multi tasking diffuses your brain cells and your focus.
That’s what I’ve noticed in my own experience.
Miss Gisele B.
Corey - Simple Marriage Project Says:
June 9th, 2008, 23:13 pm
Release a fear of failure. Great point. Most often, failure is not near as bad as we imagine. No longer fearing it allows for more freedom in pursuing the course you desire. I read Ferris’ post from Josh as well, great stuff. Thanks.
Roe bert Says:
June 10th, 2008, 0:07 am
yes
Roe bert Says:
June 10th, 2008, 0:09 am
less is more
Ann at One Bag Nation Says:
June 10th, 2008, 0:37 am
#1: do what you love
I was interested to read this at the very beginning of your post because this is the advice given to adults with ADD.
Although I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD, I’ve wondered about it a lot lately, and now I’m beginning to think that I’ve just spent an awful lot of time forcing myself to do things that don’t bring me joy. Who can focus without any joy?
My blog is about finding serenity and peace of mind - I’m clearing my physical space of clutter and making more room for joy in my life.
Ironically, my first instinct was to write a blog about the evils of multi-tasking - something I used to pride myself on.
Thanks for an interesting post.
Ramesh | The Geek Stuff Says:
June 10th, 2008, 0:53 am
“Take Breaks. This is a terribly underappreciated tool, especially in the work place”. — This is very true. Especially when you are busy doing several things, taking a break is the last thing lot of people think of in the work place.
Taking breaks is somewhat related to “doing one thing at a time”. When you are multi-tasking taking a break is the last thing on the mind. But, when you are “doing one thing at a time”, taking break automatically will follow after you successfully complete the “one thing”.
Tina Su - Think Simple Now Says:
June 10th, 2008, 1:14 am
WOW! This is an outstanding posting. What a great communicator! There are so many great points in this article that I’m gonna need to re-read it again, maybe a few times.
Will definitely reference it when I become a parent one day. :)
Thanks Josh!
The Daily Minder Says:
June 10th, 2008, 1:23 am
Fantastic post. Some really good ideas there.
Well done Josh.
TDM
cindrella Says:
June 10th, 2008, 1:25 am
Its a great stuff and interesting..
The incident you have told about the chess book is nice..
The different solutions you have given like to take breaks at work,love the work we do,thinking positively,etc…
thank you for the good things to read upon again and again
Leo Says:
June 10th, 2008, 1:53 am
@Miss Gisele … your comments, for some reason, were caught in my spam folder, and I’ve just de-spammed them. I never marked your comments as spam, so I’m not sure why that happened.
One thought is that I use Askimet, which is of course used by almost every WordPress blog … if another blogger marked one of your comments as spam, you would be on Askimet’s spam list … and so my filter would also mark your comments as spam.
The solution, for you, is to write to Askimet (google them) and let them know that you’ve been mistakenly put in their spam list. I did this before and was removed within a day.
Juanjo Says:
June 10th, 2008, 3:17 am
Hi:
An avid reader of this blog here, but I must confess I’m a lurker, I almost never leave comments about articles.
This is just great great stuff, and I had to say it.
Congratulations Josh & Leo.
Regards
Ashwin Nanjappa Says:
June 10th, 2008, 4:25 am
Thanks so much Leo for sharing this post by Josh Waitzkin! Not only did I get to hear from a different voice, I also got introduced to a new inspirational character.
Dave Says:
June 10th, 2008, 4:43 am
I’m struggling with the concept of multi-tasking.
At what point does multi-tasking start to happen? Is it simply the point where you divide your attention between two tasks?
What I’m thinking of here is the situation where I’ve collected the children from school, and then between 4 and 5pm, there’s the dinner to be cooked, homework to be done and the supervision of the pre-school children while they play (or decide to be clingy) - tasks which basically can’t be deferred to enable a single focus.
I’ve got four children and at any given moment there can be several conflicting demands for my attention.
I can’t see any other way but to accept that there are certain times when it’s necessary to multi-task.
Caroline Says:
June 10th, 2008, 6:56 am
I loved this post.
I understood Josh’s post to be asserting that students mutli-task a lot partly because the lecturing is so bad or unengaging and only caters to the audio learners out there. This struck a chord with me and I begin to understand why I found lectures so boring and didn’t learn much until I started to revise - I’m a visual (and sometimes kinesthetic) learner.
So, thank you Josh, you’ve helped me understand my son’s struggles during Kindergarten and my own incessant need to read a book about something before I act.
I’ll be looking for that gleam of inspiration in my kids eyes.
Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:
June 10th, 2008, 7:46 am
“Men of antiquity studied to improve themselves; men today study to impress others.” – Confucius
Ryan McLean Says:
June 10th, 2008, 8:31 am
I love the part about doing what you love.
I run a financial blog and it has been proven that those who do what they love prosper and become wealthier (in general) than those who do not.
So doing what you love is great advice
Miss Gisele B | myBeautyMatch.com Says:
June 10th, 2008, 8:34 am
Thanks Leo for the feedback.
I will attempt to do that!
Miss Gisele B.
Marc and Angel Hack Life Says:
June 10th, 2008, 8:46 am
Education is all about self-discipline. It might seem practical to remove computers from classrooms as a way of removing distraction, but the true slackers will probably just misdirect their attention onto an alternate distraction. A person has to want to learn.
Great article by the way…
Amrit Hallan Says:
June 10th, 2008, 9:09 am
Josh rightly points out that the main problem is not attention span but the wrong choices taken in life. I see this everywhere around me and sadly when it came to choosing my college subjects I also did what was deemed the right choice: I was interested in literature but I took up mathematics and ended up hating my studies. Although I was lucky enough to switch back to writing there are many people who simply get stuck and end up completely frustrated. We should always encourage our children to pursue subjects they are passionate about.
The same thing applies to choosing a profession. It seems difficult at the outset but we should avoid the herd mentality and select a career that is really close to our heart.
think Says:
June 10th, 2008, 9:17 am
Leo,
I like your examples to supplement your notes. Especially the example of how your Mom engaged Evan in
“Give people a Choice and they become engaged.”
This example, also brings ahead the point , many times multitasking is also to avoid doing the thing in hand wholeheartedly. For example a Chef is so engrossed in his cooking, because they do not want to miss anything. On the other hand a collage student might prefer calling friends, sending bills, submitting assignment while something is just boiling on the stove.
Thank your for the wonderful posts.
Dot H. Says:
June 10th, 2008, 9:57 am
Thank you for a very thoughtful and thought-provoking article! Clearly you are thinking of the entire nation, rather than of your own parochial interests, and that is rare and admirable!
Although I agreed with many of the points made, I found myself taking exception to others. Regarding the surfing/lack of attentiveness problem, I attended high school in the early 60’s, and there were students who were outside smoking while I was in English class. One fellow slept through every class except one. Some students lose interest for their own reasons. I see no problem with cutting off Internet access or other measures taken to bring students’ attention back into the classroom.
Sometimes the subject matter is just not relevant to the student’s life. I knew as I was being taught it that trigonometry would never be something I needed, and that has proven itself true over these many years. Yet I was constantly urged to pay attention. I learned it, got an A, and promptly erased it from my mind. I went through high school with a lot of frustration over my lack of control over the subjects forced upon me.
Some teachers are awful. I had a lecture hall in college where the professor talked so softly and in such a monotone that I stopped going because I couldn’t get anything out of it. Inattention means the student is not being reached.
I also take exception to statements like “release the fear of failure” or “release the guilt!” While highly-motivated, well-brought-up students may be able to do that simply with conscious attention, many people have not been raised in the optimal household and have subconscious forces that are not easily modified simply with a bit of conscious thought and application. It can take years of therapy to uncover the reasons behind a person’s “need” to fail, although obviously not in all cases.
Finally, “do what you love” is a statement I have always resented. My usual response is, “Beach-combing just doesn’t pay that well, and the health plan is awful.” I’m 61 years old, and it has taken me almost all of that time to understand “what you love” — what I would have loved to do, once I cleared away all the neurosis and cultural stereotyping I was raised with.
Not everyone can figure out what they love and not everyone is able to go for it. It’s easy for the young and affluent to see the world as full of choices, but for many of us, it isn’t. Herculean efforts may put some in the positions they desire, but not all of us have the stamina, good health, time, money and/or support to make those herculean efforts. Part of the reason I hang around here (though definitely not a big part) is to remind the writers here that their audience and the world are not made up solely of people like themselves.
At this point, I couldn’t afford to go back to school, my health conditions would not permit me to expend the energy needed to attend, and no one would hire me on graduation at retirement age. “Do what you love” is a nice motto for those who haven’t entered the workforce yet or those who have plentiful resources and are not past midlife.
Eric Says:
June 10th, 2008, 9:57 am
I think I have just about got most of these nailed down - except for the ‘take breaks’ tip! I really have to work on that one ;) Thanks for the article I appreciate your blog a lot! - Eric
Jason Zimdars Says:
June 10th, 2008, 9:58 am
The story of Evan reminds me of my time in school as a kid. I was a budding artist and spent every moment I could drawing. Of course, drawing in class was largely frowned upon, though the more progressive teachers quickly learned that I was still engaged despite my head down and pencil up. I was always able to follow the lesson and answer questions when called up - even while drawing.
I really believe that all those creative neurons in my brain firing as I drew opened my mind to really take in the instruction.
Selil Says:
June 10th, 2008, 10:07 am
The article and the comments by current college students show a systemic problem indicative of the erosion of scholarly aptitude. A generation of students have been taught by their peers and media that they are broken vessels that are hyper-consumers of information. Students think that they are colanders or sieves that knowledge like water is poured into them only to retain nothing.
The learning process is not a producer-consumer relationship. It is a teacher-learner process. A neophyte martial arts student would not tell a master how to do some skill, but in history or science classes students suddenly demand a say in the principles of the discipline. How self centered and egotistical.
Scholarship is not the mere acquisition of facts but the thinking and learning strategies for application beyond the class room. The article discusses the treatment for a disease, but the comments show us the symptoms.
If we expect students to respect the learning process and treat it with at least some diligence we should set that expectation early. The scholarly relationship rather than the producer-consumer relationship facilitates a learning paradigm that coalesces around learning success.
As an example undergraduates complain about graduate students teaching their classes. That experience is not about the undergraduate being foisted off but about teaching the graduate student to teach. Graduates are students too and sometimes their laboratory is the classroom.
Depending on the field of study the learning paradigm is that of master-apprentice, or scholar-student. Regardless the fact remains that professionalism and scholarship are not mutually exclusive. Scholarship and the learning process to be successful must include self discipline, respect, consideration, openness, and a little humility.
I am lucky as a professor. My students may not have those qualities on day one, but they are true scholars, and successful in life, long after they have graduated.
The Zen Dad Says:
June 10th, 2008, 10:10 am
This article quietly makes quite a strong point for home schooling. Not that my wife and I do that but the more I read articles like such and others around the net that touch on the state of our schools, it looks more like a viable option.
Food for thought I guess.
Good Post!
http://www.zendad.net
Marshall Says:
June 10th, 2008, 10:21 am
Thanks Josh. I’ve long been impressed with your writings and chess tutorials. This is another great example of your ability to see past superficial issues into the underlying problem.
It’s great to see you here.
Brenda Grate Says:
June 10th, 2008, 10:22 am
What an excellent article! Many of the points are ones I’ve been expressing to parents for a long time. The learning styles issue is one of the main reason I chose to homeschool my children. We did it for eight years and then they finished out their schooling once they hit high school. The result? My children, now adults and older teens, have excellent common sense (one thing that is sadly lacking among public school kids in general), they are passionate about their interests and are already excelling in their lives. I do not propose that all parents homeschool, it’s hard work and not always possible, but teaching our children to be passionate is at the top of my list. Encouraging their interests is so important. I could say so much more on this topic, but I think Josh covered it all. Would love to hear more from him.
Hyrcan Says:
June 10th, 2008, 11:43 am
First, the obligatory… Woohoo! Josh Waitzkin! :D Hehe! I hope all goes well at the World Championships.
Great post and great ideas, some a little too generalized as @Sandra points out, not all classrooms are worth paying attention too. However do I feel that there are more classes worth paying attention to than actually are. So his point still stands (being taught vs learning debate aside).
But there is something thats has been bothering me. I’ve read a lot of posts similar to this one, on ZH and other sites and they all state some pretty common sense things. The problem I have is that its hard for me to implement even the basic stuff which I know I should do, and I can’t help but wonder if other people have the similar issues.
Sometimes, like with “Do what you love,” I have so many options I can’t pick. I have in my professional career been forced to whittle down what I do, but it’s still pretty vague and I’m all over the field. My friends and family are often amazed at how many different things I know and can do. But the part that kills me a little inside is that I don’t do any one thing really really well, and they don’t get that. Jack of all trades, master of none, as it where.
Other times, I’m just clueless. I’m completely honest when I say that I haven’t the foggiest idea if I’m an auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner. I’m not sure if this means that I’m all of the above or that I need to find some test to take to tell me. I wish I was distinctly one of those things, might help focus the “Do what you love” thing. At the very least it would save time and money when I go to learn something. I could focus on one type of learning instead of being all over the place.
Perhaps I have these problems because I’m stuck in some weird hyper-multi-tasking mode I don’t know, but not having clear focus on what to do… makes building positive routines and the like next to impossible. The only place I know I can apply this with any success is with my health. The habit of drinking water and eating heathy is pretty universal, no matter what you do.
So if any of you have run into these kinda of snares while trying to implement things like this I’d love to hear what worked for you, if anything.
I feel, as Josh said, like I’m skipping along the surface of everything. But I don’t think it’s entirely because of fear of failure. Although some of it is… I am terrified, for example, of starting on a blank page, whether in my sketchbook/journal or if it’s a blank canvas… xP
Chris Austria Says:
June 10th, 2008, 11:53 am
WOW! Pretty impressive guest poster…As an educator, it’s a constant struggle to find ways to capture students’ attention. While it’s very difficult with all the NCLB requirements and the number of students per classroom, it’s definitely a great challenge.
If we can just reduce class sizes to an acceptable ratio, like 7:1 then we might be able to address students’ lack of focus in the classroom. But considering the budgetary constraint and structural challenges within the schools, this is all wishful thinking.
Hey Josh, does your mom still teach? I’d like to hire her…
Tony Says:
June 10th, 2008, 11:59 am
Not sure I could live without a PC, maybe I should try it, thanks
Ralph Says:
June 10th, 2008, 12:08 pm
Great article, people tend to feel very clever in their multitasking but I fail to be impressed, it’s more of the same insanity that is creating havoc these days. I wrote an article on my blog called Omni Tasking, now that is something worth aiming for!
:)
Ralph
BeyondtheMind.org
Janice Cartier Says:
June 10th, 2008, 12:45 pm
This is a HUGELY important topic. Thanks so much for spreading the reach of Tim’s post and the others on this topic. The problem is pervasive. Everyone is so afraid to miss out on something , what they are missing out on is the present moment.
In my experiences as artist in residence at a totally wired girls’ school, we had a no surfing, no open laptop unless taking notes or on task rule.
I also found that inquiry based learning worked much better than the lecture tradition. Some background is required on a topic, but if the student is charged with finding out, or actively pursuing the knowledge, then better learning takes place. Some would argue that this isn’t really teaching. I am less interested in showing someone what I know than helping them learn what they need to know.Their self interest them motivates them. We are by nature curious, but with different ways of learning, aural, visual and kinetic. Engage on all those levels. You’ll get better results.
Great discussion.
MCL Says:
June 10th, 2008, 13:29 pm
Josh - Thanks for your thoughtful note. I am picking up your book after work today.
Elizabeth Says:
June 10th, 2008, 16:16 pm
What an articulate, provocative, and wholly worthwhile guest post! (I have to chime in on this one after joining the chorus of naysayers who greeted a certain previous guest blog on welcoming one’s offspring home from college . . .)
It’s fascinating to find out what happened later in the life of the engaging little boy portrayed in the movie about the pressures of competitive chess. Josh has clearly emerged from his distinguished childhood relatively intact, not to mention highly involved with the issues of the day and active in important social causes. He continues to distinguish himself in multiple ways, as well as expressing himself beautifully in writing. His thoughts on resisting multi-tasking — whether you agree, disagree, or a little bit of both — are bound to stimulate lots of thought and discussion (as they clearly already have in these blog comments).
As an older person with various degrees including a JD — derailed from my previous careers as a medical writer and attorney ten years ago by massive spinal problems and multiple surgeries –I struggle every day with the “multi-tasking bug” while striving to motivate myself toward rebuilding a free-lance career. I have found that I need to allow time for some startling new passions and needs in my life, notably surface design, collage, and assemblage! Before becoming disabled (a lousy way to find yourself with a little extra time on your hands, but a blessing in this very same way) I had little clue that my organism craved and needed so much tactile, visual, whole-self involvement in various get-down arts and crafts. The work with my hands informs my writing, as I return to my computer in paint-spattered duds with a wide smile on my contented face. I have become less guilty, over the years, about integrating my new amateur artwork with my hours of pounding the keyboard — even including an ersatz art studio in my minimalist scheme for my abode..
Our distinguished guest blogger has written a very nice “translation” — for those of us currently outside the formal university theoretical milieu — of newer theories regarding multiple styles of learning or “intelligence,” as I understand these from my son who combined a history major with the courses required for a teaching certificate. It seems like gut-sense to me that we need to honor the unique learning style in each of us and in our children.
Unfortunately, there seem to be massive societal pressures on all of us to get more done in less time, and preferably to get all of it done simultaneousy, dividing our attention between the monitor, the cell, the iPod, the stack of reading, the needs of real-life people in our immediate milieu, etc., etc. It even seems de rigeur these days to flash a visual advertisement at the viewer in rapid-fire sound bites and fragmentary visual images — apparently on the theory that this is the only way to hold younger people’s fleeting, PC-fragmented attention. I warmly welcome any dissenting voices that might help to slow things down, encouraging a bit more mindfulness and focus in all areas of society..
Fervent thanks both to Josh and to Leo for this truly stellar guest post. I hope and trust it will become a Classic of the Blogosphere; I have bookmarked it and will be circulating it further. I will also be reading it again, and probably more than once or twice — it’s rare to read such an elegantly written and richly substantive analysis, complete with get-down pragmatic solutions, to an issue of pervasive and pressing importance to society as a whole. I would also be delighted to see future guest-posts by the same prodigious author.
Best,
Elizabeth
Magic Says:
June 10th, 2008, 17:43 pm
This is an exceptionally important (and of course well written) post because it gets us talking.
An interesting question to me is “who is to blame for the underperformance of our schools?”
The answers, of course, vary widely. The truth, as far as I can tell, starts at home. A child learns the importance of education and learning at home. Some children learn that it’s not important. A child learns how to treat others at home. Some children learn it’s ok to hit or otherwise abuse others.
I don’t have an answer, however, for all those parents who “do everything right” and their child still acts up or underperforms, except that maybe, that child just isn’t cut out for the traditional school march.
I am a grad student and I have had good and bad professors both in my undergrad and grad level courses, just as I have had good and bad managers, friends, family members, etc.
Last semester, we read “The Book of Learning and Forgetting” by Frank Smith and it discusses the classical vs traditional learning styles. For any of you truly interested in the topic, I highly recommend it.
Magic Says:
June 10th, 2008, 17:47 pm
Ack! I posted before I was done!
And of course, some schools and some teachers and some classes are just terrible. Some (most) are horribly underfunded and some are incredibly dangerous places to be.
And your brain can’t truly multitask anyway. You can’t actually focus on two things at once. You can do two things, but only one has your attention. (like commenting on a blog and answering a phone call)
Maura Says:
June 10th, 2008, 22:18 pm
Josh, very nice post, great ideas and well laid out. Your mother also sounds wonderfully intelligent and insightful woman. I struggled many years in school with verbal teaching - and was accused of being a troublemaker for not “getting it” at times when the teacher knew I was capable of mastering a concept that was babbled at me at length. Unlike most girls, I was (and still am) far more visually oriented and also a kinesthetic processor.
Djuna - Simple Ways To Help Says:
June 11th, 2008, 2:52 am
This is a great post. Multi-tasking can lead to overwhelm which can then lead to depression and inaction. There are so many demands on our time. So many worthwhile things that need to be done. It is really difficult to prioritize and juggle them all. Thank you for the great advice.
Vincent Nguyen Says:
June 11th, 2008, 13:34 pm
I am elated that an article has been written with such depth about certain inadequacies in our educational system. I noticed this article has largely touched base on high school and college leveled education but I also have a major concern with our elementary (grade K-7) system. Perhaps other Zen Inhabitors can shed some light on two issues that concerns me.
The first issue is about elementary schools and parents administering behavioural intervention drugs for hyper-active children. The second issue is about the diminishing initiative of schools to initiate or cultivate a more active atmosphere such as physical education.
My first concern is with ritalin and similar drugs that it does not let kids “just be kids”, but instead forces children to stay quiet and sit still. For the majority, we as a society still evolved without those drugs for many years. It just saddens me to see beautiful gifted talents and minds or even hidden and potentially gifted children to be stifled by medicine. Did you ever wonder how Beethoven, Bach, Van Gogh, Emily Carr, Einstein and many brilliant and talented people from the past would turn out if they were administered these drugs just for being kids?
My second concern is about children who are already playing a lot of games and surfing the net. These activities do not promote active lifestyles nor does it help children to enhance their social skills. What scares me is that there have been talks about some schools thinking about taking out the entire “physical education” system, which I think is a terrible lack of foresight. I am very active and my entire childhood has been very active. There needs to be a balance between mind and body. However, taking out or diminishing the physical education aspect of the school system is not the answer to helping a child to grow up to become a well-rounded person.
By no means am I saying that certain drugs are not helpful for exceptional cases of children who really do need help. My concern is for the majority of parents who administer these drugs as a quick fix for their children instead of looking for mid to long term solutions. Our children are the future so lets not stagnate their minds and talents.
Charles Lumia Says:
June 11th, 2008, 15:32 pm
Great article, I’m not sure that I agree on all of it though and I would like to comment on the original problem of students not paying attention in class:
Earlier this year Professor Laurence Thomas walked out of his lecture due to a young girl in the front row not paying attention and sending text messages in the middle of class. I wasn’t there myself, but I know that Professor Thomas is a good teacher and was undoubtedly giving a great lecture.
You seem to be insinuating in your article that the problem here lies with the Professor, and not the student that decides to waste their time sending text messages to their friends instead of paying attention in class. I absolutely disagree.
The problem lies with the student. She was ignorant to do something as outrageous as sending text messages in class, and right in the front row for that matter. Now you could argue that this is because she was taught poorly as a child, which isn’t provable in any way. The fact remains that she jeopardized the lecture for the entire class and her actions led to a walk-out by a quality Professor.
The same can be applied to other kids doing similar things in class. I don’t want to hear an excuse for such actions; I feel that everyone should be held accountable for their actions, no matter how old they are or what exactly those actions are. If an action is wrong, it’s wrong, that’s the bottom line; certainly there are reasons to do wrong actions, and there is undoubtedly a grey area; but some sort of consequences remain.
Just as the child in your story that wanted to read instead of listen; this girl wanted to send text messages instead of listen. They could very well have the same problem, for all we know; but that should not be used as an excuse for their actions.
Certainly the consequences should be lessened with the younger child, and in fact they were; in the case of the child that wanted to read, your mother simply gave him a Chess book to read instead of whatever book it was that he was reading before. It wasn’t any sort of punishment, but it was a consequence of the child wanting to read while your mother and the teacher wanted him to listen.
That’s about as far as I disagree with you.
You’re spot on in saying that people learn differently; and just as people learn differently, they also have different levels in their want to learn.
It can’t be denied that some people just don’t like school, they don’t like the idea of authority and being told what to do, and whatever else in may be. People like this bring down the entire learning environment, from the very beginning.
Thankfully most of these sorts of people get out of school as soon as they possibly can, allowing other people to continue their education and advance on to a college or university.
But that does not remove the fact that they are there early on, and unquestionably cause problems for children that have a good and honest interest in learning. That isn’t fair at all, for either group of children.
As you said, the fear of failing has to be removed. Just because a group of children do not enjoy school and want to get out as soon as possible does not make them bad people; it does not make them unintelligent.
To the contrary in fact, a person can be extremely intelligent without having any sort of a proper education at all. While they likely aren’t going to be into something as specialized as rocketry, and they won’t be qualified through proper paths to become doctors; they can certainly be productive members of out society.
I think that is the issue that is being missed: Some people simply do not want to learn, they don’t work in that sort of environment and it hurts them and everyone around them, bringing the entire education system down a notch.
Wasting resources on these people and trying to integrate them with other children that have an earnest want learn hurts everyone.
As you hinted at, but didn’t exactly say: Some children need to be left behind. That is the bottom line. If you are an adult and would rather text message during a lecture instead of learning something, then that is a problem on your part and you should not be allowed to hurt the educational process of others. That is the real infringement of rights; not having your internet access taken away in class.
Matt Says:
June 11th, 2008, 16:41 pm
This is very inspiring post. I’ve read about various items that are mentioned here before but not in such a cohesive post. The worst part of the whole scenario is that so many people won’t know the type of learner they are and as a result they are stuck following the marching band when in reality they should be up in a tree reading a book watching it go past.
Cindy Hammons Says:
June 11th, 2008, 17:59 pm
Great Read.. Thanks
Sandra Says:
June 11th, 2008, 23:41 pm
@Selil: Sorry, but, no.
Regarding your broken vessel metaphor, what do you call being assigned thousands of pages of reading, more than you could ever possibly absorb, each week? Overloading in that way leaves no time, and honestly, no desire, for reflection.
As for egotistical students wanting a say in the process: if the process doesn’t work for the majority of students, the process is wrong. Believe it or not, universities exist *for students*, to educate them. If a conscientious person finds serious obstacles to learning, the system is flawed.
I am a lifetime lover of learning, but that is only because my parents instilled me with curiosity about the world. School has nothing to do with it. I went to what is apparently one of the best public schools in the nation, and it was garbage. How am I supposed to respect English teachers who can’t spell or pronounce words correctly? If their job, in middle school, is to teach me spelling, grammar, and writing, I’m certainly not going to trust them to be correct if they can’t pronounce the word “superfluous” right even after looking it up in the dictionary.
As for undergrads complaining about grad students teaching classes? That’s perfectly fine, if the grad student can teach, and wants to teach. Having a completely unmotivated and uninterested teacher is bad no matter who they are, and that has been my sole experience with graduate students as teachers. Again, this is a problem with the system: it has forced people to teach subjects they really don’t care about. They teach poorly, students are disengaged and don’t learn.
I could say more, but judging by your original comment, since you’re a prof and I’m a student, my opinions don’t matter, so I should just shut my mouth and believe that whatever you say is right. Or is that not what you really meant to say? Because that was certainly the implication.
@Charles Lumia: You seem to imply that it cannot possibly ever be a professor’s fault for failing to engage students. Clearly you have not experienced any bad professors. Again, I reiterate my earlier point: is it better to just not show up, or to fall asleep from boredom or being unengaged (or simple sleep deprivation because undergraduates are encouraged to take on too much), or is it better to multitask?
If I were a professor, I’d appreciate a student at least showing up and trying to get something out of my lecture, even without their full attention, more than I would appreciate their not coming at all or falling asleep.
Charles Lumia Says:
June 12th, 2008, 23:01 pm
@Sandra
Certainly professors can be bad at their jobs, just as they can have bad days from time to time and teach poorly; that happens to just about everyone. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
I was just speaking on what I know from the situation with Laurence Thomas, and I certainly agree with it: If someone is in his class, then they should be there to learn, not to play text message tag with their friends.
To reverse your argument: I would say that clearly you have never experienced a bad student. Many students simply don’t focus in class, either the way that they are being taught isn’t meshing well with their mind, as the example given in the article points to with the child that would rather read instead of listening to the teacher talk about chess.
And as I said in my original comment: Laurence Thomas is a very good professor, I can tell you that from my personal experience. The girl in question was undoubtedly in the wrong, if she wasn’t being engaged by the lecture, then that’s on her. It is in no way the fault of the professor in this case.
Though that isn’t to say that there aren’t bad professors. It’s just that at some point you have to expect more out of your students.
I’ll reiterate what I said as well: I can understand the argument that younger children need to be engaged in different ways, that is completely understandable and is surely a sign of a good teacher. Young children don’t know how to act properly, they don’t yet know how to be taught. Their attention spans are much shorter, they’re interested in other things; and indeed they are being taught different things in different ways.
But when you’re attending a university and the entire hall is full of people interested in learning from the lecturer, then you should show some respect and not bother playing around with your telephone or whatever it may be.
And to answer your question: If I were a professor, I would much rather have a small class of students that actually wanted to listen to me than a class full of students using Facebook and sending text messages to each other.
Godssecret Says:
June 13th, 2008, 8:38 am
The first thing is you need to know, recognize and see is that you are not alone, ever. If one does not believe and know that God manifests in his own life and its providence. How can he have faith in the fact that God is involved in all that happens everywhere. Every day we encounter signs that point to an active Presence of Spirit. Everything that happens inside and outside of us is brimming with spiritual meaning, points of connection with Spirit. You need to find holiness in everyday life. By this also one may experience the mystical moment. One may see it or hear it, grasp it. Yet it has no form and is unseen and unheard being elusive and evasive. God presents Himself as the undefinable oneness. A glimpse of the Divine is every where. Seeing the patterns emerging in life awakens us. There is meaning in what happens to us in nature and the cosmos. In those things others see only as chance or strange coincidence. . Although they have a subtle yet undeniable and uncanny quality. Here God reveals himself and then at once is concealed.Unfortunately most people don’t have a clue what’s going on. God is always trying to make contact but they can’t perceive this. The whole universe is there to support our spiritual awareness. The universe is saturated with purpose and meaning. Our universe is directed by a powerful, creative intelligence, and an ordering principle of truly astonishing power, complexity, and beauty. God can be observed in the constant regularity of the universe. We can see this wonder when looking at modern science concerning the wondrous exacting complexity at the atomic and cellular level. To the wonders of the movements of the stars planets and constellations. In these things also is evidence of the subtle truth of the Divine in Creation, of God. One of the great expressions of God is the natural flow of energy transformation in the universe. You need to realize the constancy and patterns occurring in your own life, as found in the deep nature of the universe. Awareness of this leads to recognition of one’s own immutable spiritual nature. God is behind all phenomena. Everything in the universe is directed by his “laws of nature”. Just as our own breath.Violation of this law leads to disaster. Try stop breathing for a while. Adherence to the law is blessing, by it we remain in harmony with God and his universe. The highway to elevated consciousness exists in recognizing the sacred in everyday life. It is a process of continually practicing self-awareness, paying greater attention to the contents of everyday experiences: sensations, thoughts and feelings. The awareness of our inner and outer lives. The human psyche and the cosmic psyche (soul) are entwined and expressed through patterns that are neither imagined nor directed by us, but rather guided by the mysterious force some call God. With this awareness comes freedom and responsibility. Know that the whole activity of nature is to make one aware of their soul, and its Divine nature. The goal is to manifest this divinity within. This can be done by work (as acts of kindness and other spiritual actions), developing spiritual powers such as the ability to pray, and by learning reading Divine knowledge. One continuously forms destiny. Each stage of life is the root of the next.
godssecret.wordpress.com
Alex Smith Says:
June 13th, 2008, 12:32 pm
These are wonderful insights on focus and presence. Like many of us, multitasking is a defining element in my work world. It poses constant challenges with colleagues and creates reverberations, sometimes seismic jolts in my home life. Multiple demands, commitments and endless stimuli in the workplace make it difficult to be, now.
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to disengage from the work world. I’m at the front end of six months of parental leave. I think of it as a great adventure and even greater gift. It’s 180 days of magic to slow down time and engage fully with family.
I’m relatively new to the blogging world. Posts like this one and blogs like Leo’s are encouraging me to go deeper.
Thanks
A College Prof Says:
June 14th, 2008, 14:01 pm
Thank you for the excellent post.
@Sandra et al: Since I am a college prof, I have spent tons of time in classes — on both sides of the podium.
As a veteran student, I know that some professors are more engaging than others, some courses are better than others. Indeed some lectures and even entire courses are boring, poorly organized, etc. So, I do sympathize with students who are required to attend these courses.
But I would like to suggest an alternative strategy to the multi-tasking approach. I am new to this blog, but I think that my alternative fits in with the zen theme. Instead of diverting your attention away from the boring/substandard lecture, focus intently on your note-taking. Try to take the best, most copious, most well-organized notes that you can on the lecture.
This approach has kept me awake, alert, and engaged during more than one “challenging” class period.
“Why bother?” you ask. “Wouldn’t my time be better spent reconciling my eTrade checking account than focusing intently on this crappy Egypt lecture?”
Well, maybe… But maybe not. Nay, probably not. I cannot tell you how many times I had written off a course as unimportant or uninteresting only to realize later just how valuable the course was to my educational experience. Often this realization does not occur until years later. Often I am very surprised by just how valuable I now find it. Focusing on your notes may help you to mentally capture whatever is valuable in the lecture. If you are multitasking on the web, you will lose whatever may be valuable along with all of the crap that is not worth your time.
I don’t mean to let professors off the hook. Educating students is part of the prof’s job. (But it is only a part.) And it is worth trying to make lectures engaging and accessible to students.
But ultimately, it is the student who is shelling out big bucks for her college education. And it is up to her to get all she can out of the experience. You can’t make a professor be a better teacher. But the note taking strategy allows you to make the most out of what *is* under your control. It allows you to capture anything that might prove to be valuable rather than diverting your attention away from both what is bad about the lecture and from what might/could be good about it.
You seem like a very conscientious, no-nonsense kind of student. I want to see you get all you can out of your education. Cheers.
