Liberal Arts: the long wait.

I have to recognize that when I made my decision of coming to Wartburg College, I was not a 100% sure of what the Liberal Arts program mean. I knew that with this program, people make a major and also a minor and that they need to take some classes additional to those of their intended carrier. I recognize the importance of the effort made by the college and specially the IS101 class, to make us see more clearly what this means.  Now that I have read a little bit more and that we had our discussions on classes, I have a stronger opinion of the Liberal Arts programs, which, of course may change with the time.

I believe that this program can have an extraordinary effect on students; however, depending on their motivation it can just become a lot of required classes for graduate.

Learning is a process that requires a constant source of motivation, especially because it is a long process, and as any other long process, it can lead to desperation.  Like children, when they are waiting for Santa Claus (in Costa Rica we say that is “El niño Dios”) to bring them presents, learning is a long wait until the results can be seen.

Some people never were taught to wait, they have always got what they wanted in the moment that they wanted, and this is possibly why they perceive a learning process as boring or demotivation, because there is not that constant retribution to their effort.

I think that we need to find that equilibrium between living for today and seeking for long term retributions. So, how can we find that equilibrium on a learning process like the Liberal Arts program? Easy, we need to enjoy it. We need to take out all those fears and laziness and start enjoying every single class and work, just with a change of attitude, and seeing the daily retribution of having an education being concern and responsible, because many people in the world would like to have something like it.