Eureka, A New Way to Learn

Initially this post was going to be about people letting the side down after something that I witnessed at the weekend. In fact I've not been as wound up as I was then for quite a while which usually leads to a blog post but sadly something has over taken it tonight and so I'll blog about it later in the week - look forward to it is all I can say! No, this post is all about learning which has been a topic of previous posts but after just getting back to my flat from a tutorial I really need to get this out in the open. Not only does it explain this new method of learning but it also highlights just how far I've come in the few months that I've been at university.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the setup, I get lectures and tutorials every week on my course subjects. The tutorials are classes of about 10-15 people where we discuss a problem regarding the area of law that we are being taught about in the lectures - clever system huh? You would think so, but up until recently (meaning towards the end of last semester until now) I hadn't really been getting anything out of these tutorials other than notes which I was getting enough of from lectures anyway. I would turn up, sit in the room, listen to other people talk about the problem, take my notes and swiftly head back to my flat to file them away, never to be seen again. Thankfully it got to the stage last semester when I realised that there was literally no point in me turning up to tutorials and not saying anything. Now I should point out that I'm certainly not the only person that does this and I won't be the last to realise the futility of it but that is just the way it was (and to a certain extent still is).

I don't enjoy talking in front of people that much. Ironically I enjoy talking to a huge group of people but when it comes down to debating a point face to face with someone, I freeze. I don't think it's a fear of saying what I've prepared because I am usually right (although this post hinges on me being pretty off the mark today) but more the fact that I don't really like the pressure of people looking at me and absorbing what I say so that they can rebut it. I guess it all stems from a real fear of confrontation that I have. If someone says something that kicks my theories into touch then I generally agree with them rather than try to formulate an argument against them. Another factor is that I'm pretty awful at thinking on my feet although that is something I'm always striving to improve.

So anyway, back to today. I was in my tutorial having prepared a fairly good argument (well what I thought was a good argument) and it turned out to be pretty wrong. My tutor did say he could see where I was coming from with it but I think he was just pitying me after the complete hammering my ideas took from my peers. The difference today was that I voiced what I thought. I didn't let anyone (not even the tutor) interrupt what I was saying until I was finished - I put my head on the block. Safe to say that it was quickly chopped off but the point is that I had put my argument on the table. I felt rubbish when people were picking it apart which actually turn out to be a very good thing. I have always agreed with the idea that you remember the times when you either felt very happy or particularly bad and today (only for about 5 minutes) I fell into the latter category.

I'm pretty sure that I won't forget what I learned in today tutorial, the same of which can't be said for most of the ones that came before. The moral of this post is that you should place your bets and if you lose, you are more than likely to learn from your mistake and never do it again.

Thanks for reading and the next time you get a chance, put your neck on the line.

Cheers

Martin