Becoming a Slow Student
I recently had a good friend share the book “The Slow Professor” with me, written by Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber. The authors discuss how higher education is becoming increasingly corporatized and thus is increasingly asking more from their employees (and also the students, their customers) to help the “corporation’s objective.” The goal of educating more people and doing so more efficiently is defensibly a good thing, but if the established system to achieve those results is an ever-increasing demand of workloads, administration efforts, and time to accomplish everything that is required, this objective comes at a cost to the mental, physical, and social health of its employees (and students). Squeezing out more from employees in the same amount of time may work in the short term, but it is not sustainable in the long term. After exploring the problems of corporatized higher education, the authors share a number of ideas on how to be a “slow professor,” instead of a frantic, overstressed, and unhealthy professor who is continually putting out fires.
Although much could be discussed about my own position as an academic professor, today my thoughts turn to the students in the courses I teach, my graduate students who I mentor and advise, and even to my own children (all K-12 students). But my thoughts don’t stop there. Even if you, the reader, are long done with your schooling years, some lessons are still very much applicable.
There is a need for young people, before they start their careers (and during, as I just mentioned), to consider becoming a “slow student.” “Slow,” not in the sense of working slow, or, slow to wake up and be late for class, or, slow to hand in their assignments on time, but a student willing to adequately explore the material, take time to integrate principles into their knowledge, understand structures, and focus on what’s most important, while getting an education beyond simply completing the current homework assignment. The meaning of “slow student” herein does not include procrastination, laziness, or exploiting others in inappropriate ways. It does mean careful, ponderous, and prioritized actions to maximize the long-term growth and benefit of oneself and one’s education. A slow student is intentional and purpose-driven.
In the following sections, I share just a few experiences and thoughts about how one could become a “slow student” in the right way.
A Slow Student Targets a Healthy Course Load and Pace
One regret I had as a university student was that I rushed through my undergraduate education. I often would take six classes a semester and be so burdened with lectures, labs, homework, test, exams, reviews, meetings, and projects that I hardly had time for anything else in my life. I remember many Friday and Saturday evenings completing a homework assignment, closing that course’s textbook and then immediately opening up another course’s textbook to do more homework without even standing up from my chair. I would eat food while studying or doing homework, which was never that nutritional, since it was more processed than it should have been, with the only benefit that the preparation time was a few minutes in a microwave. I did not have time for exercise, which was the first victim in my schedule, and when that strategy was insufficient for finding more time, I would cut into my sleep hours, which is never a good thing, universally agreed upon by researchers and almost everyone you meet. You can probably guess that my social life was non-existent or at best insufficient to receive the necessary support and interaction from friends and loved ones that is a human necessity.
Admittedly, I completed my degree in four years, but I should have taken a little more time to get more out of the experience. I wasn’t a slow student. In reality, there were far too many guest lectures, visiting scholars, design clubs, music concerts, study abroads, sporting events, and outdoor activities I had to skip, miss, or forego just so that I would stay on track for graduating in four years. I missed out on some opportunities to learn, grow, and become a better and more balanced individual. I’m not advocating for always taking more time to graduate. In fact, some students should aim for taking less time (and you may know some of them). But for my current skill set and capabilities at the time, I was taking too many courses concurrently. Sure, I was able to complete the assignments and even get good grades, but my actual learning was not ideal. I did not have enough time to reflect, discuss, or review many principles I was learning in these 18 one-hour lectures per week. It was too much, too fast.
Every student is different. My recommendation is that students should choose the correct pace and course load at any one time so that they can have a healthy balance of learning and progress towards their degree without sacrificing (too many) other aspects of their lives including exercise, sleep, food, and social life. Don’t misunderstand. There will still be sacrifices, and sometimes working on the weekend, evenings, or a holiday will be required. Truly, there is never enough time for everything one wants to do, but a slow student will stay a healthy distance away from destructive extremes.
A Slow Student Aims for More than an A grade
I remember one student asking to visit me in my office at the end of one semester. He was currently sitting at 92.6% for the class. The cut-off was 93% for a grade of A.
I knew why he was coming to visit. I think you do too.
I had already planned on curving up the grades and he was going to have an A regardless, but I listened to his plea all the same before telling him my plan. Almost instantly, he thanked me and then left my office. He didn’t care at all about content, principles, or any other learning that he could have received from me. It didn’t even cross his mind that the 7 percent he was clearly lacking in his understanding could have been partially filled during our visit. Furthermore, the teaching assistants and I had already been generous on a number of his homework assignments and projects earlier in the semester so it was more than 7 percent anyway.
To be fair, maybe this student did understand everything in the course by this point, and maybe learning more from me wasn’t worth his time. Perhaps he didn’t like my teaching style and preferred to learn another way. Regardless, it left me thinking about those students who are chasing grades instead of knowledge. I was one of them once but wish I never was. It took until I was in graduate school to realize I was attending university to learn. Yes, preparing myself for a vocation was part of my reason to attend university, but I should have had learning as the top priority and then let the grades and job preparation come as a result of that.
To give a more concrete example of a slow student, I was impressed once when a student said to me “You said _____ wasn’t on the test but I still want to learn and read up about it. Where can I go for more?” They weren’t the top student in the class and they weren’t on track to get an A, but they realized that missing out on learning would have been a huge opportunity loss. Learning for learning’s sake is a good thing. I recognize that one must balance all the other demands on life and make progress towards a career and credentials that our current society values, but there should be moments every day when one is truly learning without any other reason than for self-improvement, growth, and expanding one’s mind. Those moments become harder to find the older one gets, so I recommend starting as early as possible to develop that habit.
A Slow Student Says “No” and “Yes” to the Right Things
I initially started this section’s title without the “Yes” clause. Mostly because many of us should err on the side of saying “No” more compared to “Yes.” In essence, our ratios are often off.
But I reconsidered the section title and realized it is more important to say “No” and “Yes” to the right things.
Still, I’ve been experimenting recently with saying “No” more frequently to opportunities, requests, demands, and temptations. Although my experiment is ongoing, I can already share with you that it’s harder to say “No” to myself and to others in all its varieties and forms than it is to say “Yes.”
For example, I was trying to eat less sugar but then, as if the universe was already conspiring to test me on my goal, someone offers me a piece of birthday cake. Indeed, it was the person’s birthday and they had made the cake themselves the evening before. Not an easy moment to say “No”… They were understanding but with a little hurt behind their eyes. Most assuredly, saying “No” came with a non-zero social cost. Maybe I should have said “Yes.”
At another time, I was invited on a trip to somewhere super cool and on my bucket list. The costs would have been affordable, even severely discounted, but it was important for me to say “No” so that I could attend a couple of other events. Disappointment was a real emotion for all parties involved, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I felt regretful later on. But I realized I would have felt regret with the other things I would have missed had I gone on the trip. Regret was going to be there no matter what. Knowing that doesn’t make it easier to choose. With so many opportunities in today’s culture, dealing with FOMO (and the potential anxiety that comes with it) is a real thing that bothers a lot of us.
My third example occurs at work where there is always an organization, committee, or group that would love to have my input, time, opinions, effort, evaluations, survey results, or contributions. I could quite literally fill every hour of every day over the next month with the set of invitations and requests I receive in my email inbox every day. The problem is that for 90% of these organizations I agree with their missions, truly want to help, and even have a position and skill set that could genuinely help them. With that as my current state, it’s not easy to say '“No” to almost every one of them. I already have to be very careful spreading myself too thin with the ones that I say “Yes” to.
Ultimately, you and I can’t do everything for everyone all the time, so learning to say “No” to the right things, and “Yes” to the right things, is an important skill that Slow Students possess or plan on acquiring.
Three Areas for Slow Students to Practice their Craft
Social media has significant advantages, but a slow student will say “No” to it at certain times of the day, week, and even semester. On the other hand, a slow student will also say “Yes” to social media at certain times of the day, week, and semester. Developing an online professional profile is clearly of value in today’s world, so spending time networking and interacting with others online is beneficial. But saying “No” when the allotted time is up, and saying “No” to the rabbit hole which is infinite scrolling of viewing incredible things people are doing and saying throughout the world, when you have other things to do, is essential. There will be incredible things people are doing and saying tomorrow anyway, so a “No” today isn’t a “No” forever, as long as the “Yes” tomorrow is for a limited time.
If you are a slow student, you will say “No” and “Yes” to those things that future you will thank you for. This is clearly a hard thing to do. “Current me” wants to eat that cake, and “future me,” after all, can deal with the downsides. A student may want to be done with a homework assignment and get back to something more fun, but a slow student might realize that 15 more minutes reviewing and a better understanding of the material covered in the homework will save time and stress preparing for final exams, with offer of a larger potential future reward. Indeed, that future student will thank the current student for spending a little more effort today. This goes with eating better, exercising more, and sleeping longer. A number of times, I have sincerely been grateful to my “past self” for going to bed early (I’ve also been angry at my past self for staying up too late as well!).
A slow student will say “Yes” to things that are more efficient in meeting needs and “No,” more often, to things that are less efficient. What does this mean? It means, sometimes saying “Yes” to eating with a friend (or even with a professor) as that can be more efficient in gaining nutrition, having social interaction, and potentially learning and developing oneself. Likewise, exercising with another person can sometimes be better than by oneself as the added social benefits are compounded. On the other hand, sometimes a slow student should say “No” to the exact same opportunity!
Schedules don’t always align and the introverted part of us may want to eat or exercise by ourselves at certain times but a slow student will evaluate when either of those choices is more efficient. For example, eating while working or studying can be a sign that one’s schedule is too tight and needs to be relaxed. But we should also say “Yes” to eating at certain times as well. Someone once told me that if I can’t even stop working to eat, I may need to say “No” to more things in my life. However, sometimes I am watching a YouTube video for work and I say “Yes” to eating while I watch (and work). I don’t universally follow the advice columnist exactly in all situations (i.e. “Never eat at your computer”) but I’m at least aware of when I choose to say “Yes” (and “No”) to these opportunities which maybe have higher benefits in one area and lower in another. For instance, I’ve heard some people allow themselves to read social media only during one meal a day while they eat. It’s a compelling strategy to consider.
Conclusion
A slow student by default doesn’t rush through life, but they also aren’t doing nothing. They aren’t saying “No” to everything, but they aren’t saying “Yes” to everything either. They say “No” and “Yes” at the correct ratio for their situation, health, budget, personality, and income. A slow student doesn’t exclusively aim for short-term goals, but the short-term goals are met by working on long-term aspirations. A slow student knows it takes time to grow and they take time to grow. Lastly, a slow student doesn’t need to be done growing after they stop being a student. My invitation to you is to become a slow student now and always. I know I’m working on it.
