CLASSES & JOBS

Learning a second language is a challenge, especially if it is not a romantic language (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English). Many people choose to learn Mandarin Chinese or Russian or some other language that can take years and years of diligent study. No matter what, learning a language is difficult and time consuming, and it makes you wonder if it is worth the invest. How many times do people learn a difficult language then graduate from high school and college and then never use it again?

Learning a second language can be a huge resource, but at the same time consider what you want to do with your life. For instance, a minor in French is a lot less useful in today’s world than something like a minor in Computer Programming. Although it may be enjoyable to learn a language, it may not be in the best interest of your future if your time could be spent elsewhere. Learning a second language is a huge benefit, but just make sure it is really going to be something you will use in the future.

Online classes are not offered at every college institution, but 90 percent of universities do offer some type of online program. These schools allow more diversity in learning because not only can students be away from their university while being enrolled, but also it gives them a chance to take classes that they may not normally take.

I go to the University of Utah but am living in California. I am currently taking nine unit hours over the Internet. I have taken all of my required courses for my major, which allows me to just finish off the rest of my credits without sitting in a classroom in Salt Lake City. I have found some interesting classes offered online and have enjoyed my opportunity to study away from home. The only thing I must add is you have to have great self-motivation and organization to keep yourself on task and on time.

Tutoring is a good aid for students that need help with schoolwork. There are tutoring centers where parents pay and get their kids in programs, and there are schools with students that tutor for fun and colleges that tutor athletes for free. Tutoring can really help a student who is struggling and getting discouraged. Tutoring offers the struggling student a chance on one-on-one help. Some people just learn better in smaller groups with fewer distractions.

My brother went to a tutoring center for years because he would not do his homework on his own at home. He had trouble doing his homework without help. Going to a tutoring center helped him learn how to do his homework because they know how to teach. Sometimes parents are too aggressive and impatient with their kids because they hold higher expectations than necessary. Tutoring gives people a great environment that is healthier for learning.

It has taken a while, but online colleges are starting to take students away from the usual college experience. This is due in part to the convenience and ease offered by online colleges. Courses can be taken at the convenience of the student versus the set schedules of regular college institutions. This has also attracted an older generation of college goers. Parents and adults with jobs and careers are finding the online college a perfect fit for their busy schedules.

They can attend school when and where they want, leaving them time to work full time, be stay-at-home parents, or pursue other goals. Online colleges give them the flexibility they want to live their lives as adults…not the typical college student life that leaves no time for a job or a life outside of school.

I am currently enrolled in an online class at my university. I didn’t have time in my schedule to fit one of my classes, so I decided I would give this online education thing a try. Surprisingly, I think it’s a good fit for me. The professor warned the class of the pitfalls of taking an online course but I think I’ll be able to survive the course.

The professor warned us that procrastination was the number one killer of online education courses. If students are enrolled in regular courses in addition to an online course, they have the tendency to put off work for their online course. This is due, in part, to the fact that students in the online course aren’t attending a physical classroom every day.

Finding the right education for your desired career path is essential. An education is a means to an end, not the end itself. When I was deciding which college to attend, I simply looked at overall college rankings, not program specific rankings. Schools like Harvard and Stanford are great, but they do not always have the exact program to help you get to where you want in the future. If you know what you want to do, look for schools with programs that are tailored to your needs.

A lot of my friends wanted to be undergraduate business majors, but liberal arts schools often do not even have an undergraduate business program. All they have are economic degrees, assuming their students want to go on to get MBA’s. Also, large institutions may have big classrooms and are low on the rankings, but if you are looking for excellent scientific research opportunities you cannot go to a small private school. Every school has specific strengths and weaknesses that only an in depth analysis will produce. To really get exactly what you want out of your education you have to look deeper than general rankings.

Writing is not easy. There are thousands of little rules that can slip your memory. One thing that really helps me is to continually be reading. Reading good writing is the best thing you can do to improve your own writing. You would not be able to list all the rules of English simply from reading, but you would implicitly know what is good writing and what is not. Implicit memory plays a huge role in how we speak and write words. We simply know what works and what doesn’t.

However, it is still good to have a helpful desk reference for writing. You can purchase a book containing all the English rules you would ever need from a bookstore for less than twenty dollars. For instance, in that previous sentence I don’t really know if I should write out twenty dollars or simply put “$20.” When you keep a reference book handy, or just have an active Internet connection, you can generally figure something like that out quickly. Obviously no one is ever going to be a perfect writer, so we can all continue to work on that skill.

Learning a language can be very useful, but it also can be a waste of time. It is pointless to learn a language you will never use again, so don’t waste your time. However, if you do pick a second language, here are some things to consider. First, consider all your options and try to imagine which will be the most useful.

For instance, I live in Utah where there is a surprisingly large amount of Hispanics. Knowing Spanish is a great asset here because I can communicate with people I see daily.

If you cannot think which language would be most useful where you live, then consider what you could use this language for in the future. If you are looking to go into business, knowing a language like Mandarin Chinese or Japanese could be very useful. If you already know a language, use it to your advantage.

If you are applying for an international job and you speak French, mention you could help that company expand into France over time, or that you could help them with their current French operations. Knowing a language can be pointless if you do not use it actively, but you can find ways to leverage a second language for your own benefits.

My favorite teacher ever showed me how what I was learning was applicable to my everyday life. We looked at current news before each class and applied principles we learned to what we read about. When a concept becomes more than a few sentences on a textbook, that’s when I feel I really begin to learn. My favorite teacher also made each of his students get to know one another. It may sound awkward at first, but it really made the class more enjoyable. He would give us quizzes on everyone’s name, and if we missed someone’s name, we had to walk over to that person, shake their hand and introduce ourselves.

In other words, my favorite teacher was not a walking/talking textbook. There is so much more to learning then memorizing formulas and data. After I have a test where it was simply regurgitating definitions from a book, I immediately forget everything I just memorized. It defeats the purpose of going to class, and usually if a teacher is simply a walking textbook, I don’t go to class anyway because I can get the information from my book on my own time. A good teacher really makes a huge difference in your education. Talk to friends and other students and find out who they think are great teachers and take those classes.

I have had the opportunity to visit and even live in foreign countries. Traveling abroad has been one of the greatest educational experiences I have had in my life. I look back on each experience as a crucial event that helped me discover not only who I am but what I wanted to accomplish in my life.

The best time to travel abroad is when you are a student. Most colleges offer study abroad programs that enable you to study and travel in foreign countries at a great price. When I was a junior in college I lived in Italy for a semester while studying European history, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Most college study abroad programs are safe and reliable. If you want to travel abroad with a travel or study group, make sure you do your research. The best companies will have reviews from people who have traveled with them. It is always appropriate to ask questions of a company before traveling with them. The last thing you want to do is be in a foreign country and feel unsafe.