By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
When people reach an answer on their own, what they usually learn sticks with them for a long time. We don’t easily forget things we have worked so hard for. On the other hand, answers spoon fed to us don’t weigh the same. They can easily be forgotten. Like all the answers for my math assignments I begged for in the past. I may have gotten high scores but in a live setting when there was no one to spoon feed me, I had no chance.
When I was forced to sweat and actually learn the formulas and how they work, then everything became clear. I could get to answers on my own. I didn’t need much help anymore. Of course, being bad at math, a lot of those answers I got to all on my own were wrong, but the rewarding feeling was there nonetheless. I got some correct ones because of my efforts and that small feeling of accomplishment was bigger than the frustration of getting the wrong ones.
It saves a lot of time and stress to cut around corners and get to the finish line fast. Instead of taking the long route and working so hard just for a bit of progress.
The feeling of wanting to cut corners was a strong one in the pandemic, at least for me. Online learning was a bore and tedious. Assignments were not fun and I felt it was just better to look up the answers online, instead of reading through multiple pages in modules. Learning then became anything but learning.
There were times when I felt responsible enough to read through the modules. On those rare occasions I found that they were more efficient than looking straight at the modules for answers. Going through page by page just for a single question instead of studying quickly became boring and tedious. Actual studying made quizzes simple and easy. Plus, they made me feel better about myself, with guilt not bothering me every time I cheated.
Now, when teachers are all too eager to set deadlines, the urge to cut corners again pops up. Sometimes the feeling is too strong and I just cut many corners all the way to the finish line.
To make me feel better about myself, I go back to actual studying and seeing just how much capable our minds are. High scores in school are always a beautiful sight. But they feel better when you see your own effort in them. You feel better about high or low scores when you did give it your best. What’s important is that the effort came from you and all the results will stick with you in the long run. They are teachings that will undoubtedly help you to be better next time. **
