Robnolte 1

Justice Robnolte

Marisa Enos

Eng.111.W03

24 April 2018

Focus: AMS Final

When transitioning from a high-school to a college state of mind, students seem to be

getting particularly inadequate in the amount of attention they put into their work. Their poor

choice in learning habits can be seen as not understanding how to study or can be seen as

incompetency and laziness. Teachers have been given the bad rep from day one as the reason for

shoddy grades, but has anyone ever thought that maybe the grades are a view point of the amount

of attention they’ve given these assignments? Attention is a necessity when obtaining an

education, and students should understand that they have more than enough attention to give.

The amount of time and attention a student gives to an assignment shows in the final

result but having a positive learning outcome in the classroom is also essential. The student first

needs to comprehend the information before absorbing themselves in learning it completely, and

it seems that students aren’t grasping the information and are more-or-less just ‘winging’

learning. Robert Leamnson, Professor of Biology at UoM, Dartmouth, explains it best in his

article, “The Biological Basis of Learning.” In the article, Leamnson says that learning needs to

be picked apart and looked at intently for the student to fully understand what they’re learning.

He also states that, “Understanding: “comprehension: “reflective integration,” and

conceptualization” don’t seem to add all that much to the original.” (Leamnson 66) He is stating

that without understanding, comprehension, and so forth, students cannot understand learning on
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a personal level. Students do not use the accessibility of the teacher to better understand the

information in front of them, but rather look it up on the internet for an “easy A” assignment.

This is where the issue of high school to college level thinking is a swing and a miss ballfield – if

the student continues to assess school work as it should be “easily manageable”, and continue to

do work without any feeling involved, their college grades will show serious repercussions. To

study without feeling is harder to do for students. They need that type of connection to their

work, or else the assignment itself will seem disconnected from the topic. With that

disconnection, comes less attention to detail in information on assignments. Within adult

learning, there needs to be distinct attention to every word.

This is the learning curve that comes with transitioning into the adult learning level of

education. When entering college, a student should look at their schoolmates as colleagues at

work, and their professors should be seen as – well, as they should be – teachers. Professors are

there to help students, but for some reason, students don’t seem to want to help themselves, when

all the need to do is speak in a proper manner to be taken seriously. Iliana Miller, faculty here at

MMCC in the English and Humanities department, describes it as a “threshold” in her article, “A

Troublesome Threshold,” where she goes into detail of how freshmen students seem to have the

most trouble with trying to step over that threshold into a higher level of learning, and explains

what happens when students are able to reach this threshold, “Once beyond the threshold,

students realize they are invited into all the conversations that surround them, and in doing so,

we hope they enter their future different communities of academic writers without being singled

out immediately as a newcomer in the group.” (Miller 6) Within her writings, Miller gives

students the answer to doing better in college: Just listen and ask questions. By asking questions,
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students could easily be solving the issue to their problems within their work. Asking for help is

not a harmful thing, nor is asking questions.

If a student isn’t asking questions, it could be viewed as a bad learning habit, or room for

improvement – hence the idea of learning. Adding habits to gain attention to detail is one of the

few issues most students have with transitioning into adult learning – effectively lowering the

amount of attention given to their first year as Freshmen college students. Students should try to

form good habits of studying and learning, not just in the beginning of their college life, but

throughout it as well. Within studying and learning, comes a higher attention rate, which can

effectively help students in any future endeavor they choose to take on. James VanderMey, a

teacher here at MMCC, told a speech at the 35th Annual Honors Convocation titled, “Remarks on

Habit.” Within this speech, VanderMey gave a list of good learning/study habits all degree

holders should have by the end of their undergraduate life and could be a nice goal for students

to attempt and reach in their future. Considering the amount, below are listed a few main

learning/studying habits that should be already be formed by the end of a students’ Freshmen

Year, “The good habits of analytic inquiry; The good habits of engaging with diverse

perspectives; The good habits of learning collaboratively and cooperatively.” (VanderMey 14)

If students chose to engage in conversations at a more defined level of learning, and were active

and engaged with their learning, they could see less downfall, and more uprising in their grades

within the near future.

Although school may be difficult, it can be a mountain to climb if a student isn’t giving it

the right amount of time and attention. Whether they are troubled with understanding the work,

or stepping through an uncomfortable threshold, there is always room to obtaining an

understanding to an education. And once an understanding for education is obtained, attention to

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education becomes a greater want. Education is all about transitioning into paying attention to

the details implemented by the student. Students choosing to pay less attention to their education

is harmful in a way that is also hurting their future. Without attention, adult learners will

effectively ruin their chances of a better future. In what working environment is attention not

necessary? Gaining attentiveness in the beginning of any goal is helpful and will provide a way

of succeeding.

Works Cited

Leamnson, Robert. "The Biological Basis of Learning." College, Mid-Michigan Community.

Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st Century. New York: Pearson Education,
Inc., 2016. 66. Book.
Miller, Iliana. "A Troublesome Threshold." College, Mdi-Michigan Community. Exploring
Connections: Learning in the 21st Century. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2016. 6.
Book.
VanderMey, James. "Remarks on Habit." College, Mid-Michigan Community. Exploring
Connections: Learning in the 21st Century. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2016.
14. Book.