As I sit here blogging, and welcoming myself back to the interwebs, I have a very welcomed break from class, I wondered—what should I talk about next??? I began to reflect on all of the things that I have been up to professionally and kept deferring to grad school. I just posted my last assignment for my most recent class mere hours ago, and I really began to think about this question: what is grad school really teaching me?
People attend grad school for all kinds of reasons. Some people want to move up in their careers, some people are career students and just love learning, some people do it for their families—but whatever the reason, I feel like grad school teaches us more than content or critical thinking skills or research skills, it’s much bigger than that. So, as I reflect on what being a serial graduate student has taught me, I came up with this list.
#1: To NOT Be Angry. It seems as if work engenders anger is so many people. Why is this happening?!! Why are we doing that?!! Grad school has taken this tendency from me. I find that I am no longer angry about things because I understand the why. I understand why organizations are run the way that they are. I understand why politicians do what they do. I understand why you have to teach what you have to teach. So, instead of being frustrated or angry about things that are happening, I simply and not because I understand the why. I’ve learned that it’s my job to be a change agent, not an angry person.
#2: To be reflective. Grad school is more than learning something new, it’s learning something new in relation to what you already know. I have yet to have taken a grad class that did not require me to reflect on my own practice, my own career, and my personal experiences. I find myself referring to research or an awesome book/article I read for class in daily conversation. At this point, I’m reflective about every move that I make and I think about things that I’ve read or discussed in class in real time.
#3: Someone Invented That YEARS Ago. People say this all of the time, but the truth is: yep, someone came up with that years ago. I know we all talk about reinventing the wheel, but no, seriously, some philosopher or theorist thought of that years ago. It’s amazing when something is rebranded as innovative, but Plato or Socrates talked about it first.
#4: Make the Most of Every Situation. I’ve talked about this before, but it’s always something I default to at this point in my educational career. You may end in up in a class that you feel is unnecessary or unrelated to what you are studying, but this not always the case. I’ve found that you have to find the golden nugget in every situation. There is always something that can be learned, and you have to look for those things.
Well, thanks for taking a minute to look at my career student reflection. I hope you enjoyed it. I decided against making a video for this blog, but or you can CONTACT ME if you have any questions about grad school or grad programs. Until next time!