When I took a college course on American history, which covered from the initial colonies to 1828, by the end of the course, I had a notebook full of notes, along with the outlines for each lecture (provided by the professor). This summer quarter, I took the next course in the series, which covered from 1828 to 1900.
I thought it might be helpful (or at any rate, interesting) to go back and reread my notes from the first history course, before beginning the second one. My brain hopped to, “That’s a great idea, except.. oh wait, you threw those notes away when you were going through your stuff at the end of that quarter!”
Talk about a senseless move. I have no idea why I threw my notes away. It was on par with basically throwing away my money and time for that course. Sure, my academic record still shows that I took it (and got an A in the course, no less), but the fact is, it’s been a while since I took it, and I’ve forgotten most of what I’d learned.
And since I wasn’t being mindful of what I was doing, I now no longer have the notes to refer to.
Tags: college, History, Learning, Life, personal, US History
3 comments
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link
http://system13.org/2006/09/05/discarding-college-notes-why-did-i-do-that/trackback/
September 6, 2006 at 7:04 am
Rhino
I did something similar once. I had been taking a Spanish language class, and was required to take a second semester. When the first semester ended, I went (as usual) to the university book store and sold back some of my unneeded textbooks, and for some reason I sold my Spanish textbook too. The next semester, I had the same Spanish teacher, and he saw that most of the class was the same students he had previously. He said “So we can get right into things since we already have our books.” and I had to sheepishly admit outloud to the whol class that I sold my book. My teacher looked at me like I was a complete idiot.
September 6, 2006 at 8:14 am
Josh
Well, at least I know I’m not alone in my senseless blunders.
September 7, 2006 at 10:28 am
Joshua J. Slone
As a packrat I had to get rid of my stuff, even if it means shoving it all away where I’ll never find it again. If I _do_ throw something away, though, I try to forget it ever existed so I don’t miss it.