Carroll Homework - Anyone agree with this?

My resistance has been to school in general. It has always rubbed me the wrong way, making me feel more like a prisoner than a student. Between the long days, forced attendance and constant instruction, middle school and high school always felt more like boot camp than places of learning.

Given my feeling of being trapped, I would in turn not put forth my best effort. If the schools told me I had to be there, I would be there but no one could convince me I had to try, after all, I was still getting B’s and C’s which kept my parents off my back.

Once I got into high school, I had a mild revelation. I was going to see what it was like actually putting forth an effort. I spent my sophomore year putting my best foot forward, making a conscience effort to study and complete my homework. Not only did I study for tests but I actually took the advice of my history teacher and studied for 15 minutes on what I learned in his class every day for the entire semester. He brought up the notion that it was much easier to study very little, very often, than studying for 2 or 3 hours the day before a test. By putting his theory into practice I was able to get much better grades and for the first time, accompanied my sister on the honor roll.

Although it felt reasonably good to get the better grades and the extra pat on the back from my parents, I still didn’t think the time and effort put forth was worth the extra kudos or higher grades. The following year I went back to my old ways of getting a 3.0, no better, no worse. I would attend class but sit in the back paying little attention to the subject matter.

I wish I could sit here and say that “If I had to do it all over, I would give it my best shot” but I don’t know that I would. It is far too easy to get by with B’s when A’s do not seem worth the extra effort. Clearly there are many contradictions in this way of thinking but as a student, it always made sense to do my own thing. It always gave me the feeling of “us against them” (“them” being faculty).