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/lit/ - Literature

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1416696 No.1416696 [Reply] [Original]

You all seem like smart people /lit/.

How does one succeed in a college writing or philosophy course? I want be smarter wat do.

In bafurr sardonic, demeaning responses.

>> No.1416705

"I want be smarter wat do."

Descartes never wrote a sentence this stupid, never ever. You'll only ever be so good, grasshopper. St. Balthasar will consult high promise for that much, at least.

>> No.1416711

In my experience, saying what the teacher wants you to is an easy way to get an A.

When a teacher says, "What do you think about _____?" You need to anticipate the answer that they are looking for rather than a valid answer of your own.

Hope this helps.

>> No.1416712

>>1416705
You fell into my trap.

>> No.1416725

>>1416711
See, this is what I hate about those kinds of classes. I don't want to give the professor a response they want to hear, I want to give them a response I have constructed in relation to what we are discussing. When considering a question or a dilemma or whatnot, my first thoughts should not be "what is the professor looking for". They should be "what does this mean to me, and how would I solve it?". In this way, the American education system (or any education system) is inherently flawed. I want to find a way to get around that.

>> No.1416731

>>1416725
>In this way, the American education system (or any education system) is inherently flawed
You're talking about an English problem since there's no wrong answers if you can back something it up.

>> No.1416737

>>1416712

"St. Balthasar will consult high promise for that much, at least."

Nobody's ever constructed a trap capable of preempting that sentence before. Kudos to you, though you do rimble for Kungle & Country.

>> No.1416747

>>1416731
Even if you can back it up, the professor usually says something like, "Yes. But, what else does the text say in relation to this--?" Scan for some more hands that might be attached to the mouth that'll say what they want to hear.

>> No.1416752

>>1416737
Falling deeper.

>> No.1416767

>>1416747
Exactly. They aren't making us think, they're just using a really inefficient method of trying to get us to say something they want to hear, while deducting from our grades in the process.

>> No.1416794

Yes, that's right, your philosophy tutors hate novel ideas - you were stifled, and thus robbed of your rightful place beside Kant and Aristotle. Or, perhaps, you were made to follow established academic traditions because these ideas, no matter how popular and poorly regurgitated they are, are vastly superior to any of your own (even if you lack the ability to pick them apart, and even if nobody of any merit has the propensity to entertain your lacklustre musings for long enough to destroy them).
If you want to do well in a philosophy essay then you'd better get to learning what dead Europeans said a long time ago, because it's damn valuable and merely comprehending it will do more good for you than wasting time on your own delusional, masterbatory meditations.

>> No.1416800

>>1416747
>>1416767
Apparently, my school is some sort of anomaly, then. In all but 1 or 2 of the philosophy classes I've taken, the professors have been more-than-willing to indulge any sort of "reactionary" discussion to the material.

Hell, I had one class (on existentialism, in fact) where we would come in and the professor would just ask, "So, what did you guys think of X" and we would just sit around and discuss our personal reactions to the text. I have had hardly any of the strictly "regurgitate what they want to hear" sorts of classes you all seem to get stuck with so regularly.

>> No.1416814

>>1416794
>sardonic demeaning responses

As is almost always the case on /lit/, you're making a lot of assumptions. Who says I'm formulating my own ideas? Our education system offers little room for that. What if I'm merely approaching an analysis of a work from a different perspective? Who's to say that perspective is invalid in relation to what the professor wants to hear?

>> No.1416816

>>1416800
I went to a very small school we only had 2 main philosophy profs and a one or two who did some crossover stuff. A small department at a small school those of us who majored in it got to know the professors pretty well, I had a lot of debates and discussions with them, and even in class I disagreed with one of my professors on just about everything and still got As. I mean come on he supported a form of indeterministic freewill advocated originally by Kane, its just retarded.

>> No.1416828

>>1416816
Good for you. I go to a larger school (About 5000 people) with a competitive academic reputation, and basic philosophy classes are treated like "weeder" situations, in which a few kids get good grades and the rest are discouraged from continuing down that path. Very different atmosphere.

>> No.1416863

dude. it's simple, really. i'm not even being mean.
1) go to class and pick up what they're putting down. don't be doodling-- engage.
2) read the texts, but don't just look at the words-- consider the meanings of them and actually analyze.
3) odds are if you do both 1 and 2, you'll have some questions, be frustrated, and get confused. talk to your prof. do it during his office hours.

>> No.1416867

>>1416725
well, conforming to this system is the smartest approach, there's no avoiding it. It really is just a test of your faith and interested, so long as you see a greater purpose, a more profound cause, you will seek and explore it on your own time.

If education won't provide, then find something else that will. I keep correspondence with a close friend of mine, who, as a peer, can share a level conversation.

>> No.1416886

>>1416828
Man that doesn't seem nearly as fun as going out drinking with your philosophy professor and trashing the opinions given in class by other students.

>> No.1416895

>>1416886
Nope. Just makes you feel stupid. But eh, I suppose thats half of learning in college. Getting over the problem and getting over yourself. Anybody who denies this other half of the process is either a genius or a liar.

>> No.1416897

A lemming. Be the lemming.

>> No.1416903

>>1416897
We're all already lemmings.

>> No.1416910

>>1416897
Fun Fact: the lemmings jumping off a cliff myth owes most of its cultural hold due to a Disney documentary where they herded them off a cliff.

>> No.1416914
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1416914

>>1416910
Not these days, bro.

>> No.1416915

>>1416910
>Implying we're not all being herded off cliffs in one way or another

>> No.1416936

don't write your inner thoughts even when they say you to do that.
Write for your teacher and to the people reading it.

>> No.1416943

>>1416936
>don't write your inner thoughts
KILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSAAAAAARGHHHWAAAGRBLKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSK
ILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLTHEFUCKTARDSKILLT
HEFUCKTARDS

>> No.1417022

>>1416943
I lold.