Luck

[cjsmith]

At physics lecture yesterday, the professor was making the point that she had given ample opportunity for students to earn extra credit. She pointed me out as an example, saying I had accumulated five percent. (This is the maximum, and it was earned by, get this, 1) showing up to lecture and 2) doing my homework. I wish I were kidding.)

Five or six people in the room yelled in an only-somewhat-friendly way "Oooo, luckyyyyyyyy!" That was the dominant word: lucky. The professor tried to point out that I had worked hard in this class, but I don't think that part of her message got across at all. It was as if the vocabulary she was using was in some other language.

Sometimes I worry about the future of this country, I really do. Lucky because I showed up to class? Lucky because I did the work after the professor told everyone we'd get credit for it? No. I don't think so. Lucky because I don't have cancer, that I'll buy. Lucky because I live in an area with ready access to community college courses, yes. Lucky because I bust my ass once I get there? No.

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I listen to some of the undergrads around me and think, "Was I ever that ignorant?"

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And in some ways, I know I was. I went through classes without doing nearly as much work as I needed to do to succeed. I talked myself out of dropping one and went on to flunk it instead. I had no sense of time management, study habits, or the large gap in effort between a B and an A. I had never had to pay rent, I had never had to get up and get things done when I was in massive pain, and I didn't have a firm concrete reason why I was in school in the first place.

I don't think I ever walked around saying that someone who did his homework was lucky to get a better grade than I did. But maybe I did. If so, there's hope for this crop, too.