Breaking The Dependency Cycle by Brenda

Breaking The Dependency Cycle by Brenda - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

As I typed in the the course code to register for a class on our school portal I felt nervous. I heard many bad things about this professor and how only the best of the best can successfully pass this course. I was discouraged, this class was based around my major and I began to think if I was truly cut out to be a mechanical engineer. If I can't pass this class then that must mean I don't have the capability to be successful in such a competitive field; but I enrolled anyway. My mentality was negative, not knowing that this professor would eventually teach me the most valuable lesson to be successful in my education.
On the first day of class there were students sitting on top of the counters along the wall because there were more students than there were chairs. As I looked around I saw engineering, chemistry, and computer science majors that would soon disappear within the first week of class. Finally our professor, Dr. Tran, walks through the door and greets us while holding a combination of books and papers in his hands and a backpack on his back. He had a sarcastic sense of humor but was more strict and serious than he was funny.
His lectures were difficult and every example problem was a competition because when he put a problem on the board the first to answer received one extra credit point. I was always two seconds too late, someone else had the correct answer faster. The first exam came along and all the chairs plus some counters were still full. Then there was the second exam, where there were enough people to sit everyone one seat apart. I was exhausted, I was sleep deprived and my head felt as if I could not retain any more information. This was physics 4A; the first class of 3 in the physics series every engineer must pass to transfer. My grade was not the best but was enough to be passing the course.
The day before our third exam, there was no lecture on physics. Instead, this was a different type of lecture where he spoke to us from the heart. This was surprising to me considering everyone in my school strongly disliked him for his way of thinking and his comments. This day he told us that as students we have a duty to build our own path to success. As an engineer, In order to truly be successful you have to be knowledgeable. We have to stop being so dependent on our professors to teach one hundred percent of the material. One of his most famous lines is: “ I would rather walk across a bridge built by one of my students than someone else who only got the grade”. He wants us to break that dependency cycle where students show up to class and expect the professor to explain everything. There are students who have straight A’s or simply good grades in general but may still not remember the material a month later because they did not truly retain the information. That is not how education works, he showed us a tip he always uses where you read the chapter before class, show up to class, and then read over the chapter again. It is a great way to ease your way through difficult concepts because you expose yourself to the material 3 times.
That day was when I realized why he was so difficult in the first place. He was training us for courses that will be much harder than his and professors much more difficult than him. Not only that, I also realized that I had discovered my learning style. I am a kinesthetic learner where I have to write down the information I learn because if I only listen or read then I can not retain information well. I still have my physics notebook which my own notes that I take apart from the lectures. I continued to use it for Physics 4B and plan to use once more for Physics 4C. Even though I did not pass physics 4A the first time I learned a valuable lesson and have seen an improvement in my grades.