How to fail a class
Things you
should know if you want an
education
-- or --
What to do if you want to avoid one
guidance from
Herbert Jack Rotfeld,
Auburn
University, USA
& Colin Jevons, Monash
University, Australia
- Come to
class late, leave early, or just not come at all.
- Do not
study the reading assignments before the class meeting covering that
material. If a topic is to be covered during multiple
classes, never reread the assignment before the second day. Instead,
only read the textbook or assigned articles on
the day before a possible pop quiz or exam.
- Focus
learning narrowly on what you think you need to remember to pass a
test, rather
than developing a deep understanding of the subject.
- Memorize terms
instead of understanding their use, applications and meaning.
- Don't
review available study questions before each class.
- Never look
at optional articles that are handed out in class or linked to
the syllabus. Do the required work and
nothing more.
- Never
discuss the material with your classmates.
- Never
contact the instructor except to ask about your exam scores or to what
parts of the material are most important to study.
- Don't
take any notes on the oral content of lectures, speakers, videos or
other students'
comments during discussion. Consider as the only relevant notes for the
class to be
what can be copied from the slides on screen.
- If you are a
poor note-taker, don't buy a tape recorder.
- Be too
shy to try to answer a discussion question asked during class or be too
embarrassed to ask questions you fear are too dopey. What you say would
be too dopey
only if you
came to class unprepared or are asking for a repeat of things you
missed
because you were absent, late or not paying attention while texting
your friends!
When answering essay questions:
- Repeat details
parrot-fashion instead of understanding
and applying the material.
- Repeat
the lists or terms from the textbook instead of answering the questions.
- Blindly
transcribe the textbook even if lectures or other readings questioned
their validity.
- Write an
answer for the question you wanted to get
instead of the
one that is actually asked.