Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Michelle Nelson
Marisa Enos
ENG 111.W03
25 February 2018
Habits begin to form starting from the time a person is born. Bad habits or good habits,
they become a part of the way people live. These habits can have a profound impact in many
different areas of a person’s life, one of which is the educational experience. If the proper habits
aren’t formed, the adjustment to higher level academics is most certainly going to be a difficult
transition. The way students interact with others, the language they learn to use, and the manner
in which they are taught are just a few examples of the habits that are formed throughout
One habit that is shaped throughout childhood is interaction with others. This includes
fellow students as well as teachers. The way students are taught help to mold the habits they
develop regarding communication with others. Unfortunately, in many cases students are
essentially discouraged from engaging at all, especially in the teacher-student relationship. This
greatly hinders their ability to communicate on an academic level once the student enters college.
As Paulo Freire claims in “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education”, students are simply fed
information and then expected to reproduce it on demand. This doesn’t encourage a deeper
understanding and knowledge of the material being discussed, it simply encourages students to
memorize what is deemed important long enough to pass the test at the end. In this environment,
Freire argues,
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Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the
teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently
which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving,
When students are fed information without the opportunity to challenge or question this
information with any kind interaction or input of their own, there is no habit of intellectual
communication formed. This method of teaching greatly diminishes the creativity of the student
and acts to oppress their communication and critical thinking skills. These are important traits
This underdeveloped habit of communication inhibits the new college student’s ability to
prepared for the level of academic exchanges that are necessary in a college setting. Students
haven’t had the opportunity to create good habits toward communication and appropriate
College, reasons “Before we enter into a conversation, the first thing we need to do is listen. Our
goal is to be able to understand what others say and mentally engage in the conversation. Then
we can enter the conversation and contribute our opinion” (Miller 4). Not having had much
opportunity to participate in their own learning as Freire described, many students lack the
important skill, or habit, of maintaining an academic conversation. They have not properly been
taught to mentally engage, as they have always been force fed all the information necessary to do
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well, without a need for deeper understanding. There was never an opportunity for this
Dartmouth. Leamnson’s book titled “Thinking About Teaching and Learning” discusses habits
regarding studying in a passage titled “Today’s First-Year Students”. Leamnson claims “It’s a
rare student who will go off and study psychology, not because a quiz is coming up, but simply
because psychology is getting ahead of her and she needs to catch up” (Leamnson 77).
Leamnson continues, claiming the mind set of many first-year students is that the only time
necessary to study is just prior to a test. This reaffirms Freire’s idea that students are
programmed to receive information only to recite it on demand. Those are the habits that have
It’s hard to remain surprised that today’s new college students are unprepared when one
takes the time to look at the educational tendencies that have been encouraged from the
beginning of school. The habits that have been encouraged for the most part are not conducive
to success in upper level education. It would be far better to establish critical thinking and
communication habits at a far younger age, rather than trying to change poor habits once the
student enters the college level education. According to Leamnson, “It’s far easier to teach a
five-year-old (given the talent and skill to do it) than a nineteen-year-old… Nineteen years of
experience do not make the young adult brain easier to deal with” (Leamnson 74-75). It is
essential to encourage the right habits for success at a young age. A person might believe that
after 13 years of school, a student should be more than capable of succeeding in college. While
it is undoubtedly accurate to say a lot is learned in those 13 years, sadly much of what is learned
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is often counterproductive. “Many will have habits, of mind and body, quite inappropriate for
the task they are about to undertake. In the case of first-year students, a prominent element of
teaching might be thought of as a reconstructing of the student mind” (Leamnson 75). It would
seem that the student would be much further ahead if this reconstructing of the mind wasn’t
necessary to begin with. If the habits formed prior to college were better aimed toward critical
thinking and engaging in academic conversation, just for starters, students would have an easier
transition to the requirements of college level education. Leamnson further indicates that
“Because of the attitudes and habits of typical freshmen are at such odds with those of their
teachers, new students suffer, literally, a cultural shock in their first-year of college” (Leamnson
79).
and Humanities at Mid-Michigan Community College, shared in his Honors Convocation speech
titled “Remarks on Habit” the importance of working to develop and maintain respectable habits
that are necessary for professional success. VanderMey warns against allowing habits to
“become mere repetitiveness, so that we fail to attend to the newness or difference in the
situation that trigger the habit into action” (VanderMey 17). Instead, he encourages students to
continue to challenge themselves and build on those good habits to keep them alive and growing.
Habits are most shaped often without intention. They develop over time from repeated
practice. If students are taught to be active participants in their education from an early age, and
gradually given more opportunities as they get older to engage in meaningful conversation and
encouraged to be critical thinkers, there would be a much smoother transition to the college
environment.
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Works Cited
Leamnson, Robert. “Today’s First-Year Students” Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st
VanderMey, James. “Remarks on Habit” Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st Century.