This article, and many more we’ve read this summer, discusses the discovery and adventure involved in researching. We have all become more independent and competent in finding, analyzing, and using information. I was so excited the first time I made a link. I like feeling capable. To me, and I’m sure this applies to more of you, knowledge is empowering.

But, the fact is that not all students feel this way. Some students find libraries intimidating, teachers unnerving, and the Internet daunting. This piece of writing alluded to a lack of self confidence as a probable cause. I agree and feel that the lack of confidence possibly originates in our schools. In school, we are identified by our strengths and rarely encouraged to pursue things that we are not good at. If a student is failing anatomy, the teacher may give him extra help, but would she ever encourage him to go to medical school? Do coaches suggest that college scouts talk to their third string players? No. Why? Because they feel it would be waste of time.

We unknowingly breed complacency. We encourage students to accept that there are some things that they just are not good at. This is good to a point. No one is good at everything, and this is hard for some students to learn. But, some students develop a self-defeating attitude. They give up easily because this task must be one that they are not good at. They do not think of the learning process or research as an adventure, but find it to be more of a pitfall.

So what can we do about this? I think one thing we can do is encourage people, students, teachers, whoever, to explore areas, topics, outside of their expert field. I really think, and please don’t hate me for this, that the Marshall Plan is a really great idea. It ensures that students are exposed to different areas of study. This way, they have the chance to explore topics, which they might not have explored otherwise. Personally, I learned that I love history. In high school, I took the required history classes and stammered through. In college, I learned that the stories you find in a history book are better than any best selling fiction book. By exposing ourselves to new
things, or even old things, we give ourselves the opportunity to find that “scholarship is an
adventure.”