Supergenius: A Message to My Students
Dear students,
It is a privilege to teach you. But remember that we can only teach you so much. A trimester, a semester, a year, or four or five, is still a short amount of time to teach you everything. We cannot teach you everything. To use the time efficiently, we determine which among the topics you need to learn are most essential, thus what you are getting is only a sampling of what’s out there, limited by the time you invest with us. Granted, it is a well chosen sampling, selected by experts, but still nonetheless, just a sampling. The sampling was chosen in the hopes that it will build upon you a good foundation such that when you encounter new situations, the foundation built upon you will be a strong basis for you to tackle these new obstacles.
Do not be contented with what your teachers teach you. Do not be dependent on what is discussed in class. Learn more than that. Go beyond what was discussed in the lecture. Your teachers do not know everything. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to know more than what your teacher knows. Provoking you to probe further while pointing you in the right direction is better than feeding you bits of knowledge.
Always keep yourself updated. What we teach now may not be up to date by the time you graduate. Which is why we choose to teach those things which are timeless, because we are well aware that progress moves very fast, and although details may change, some essential principles do not. Understand these essential principles, and keep yourself updated with the current applications of these. Essentials are good, but so are details. Keep yourself updated with the details.
Study outside of class. Study on your own. No, I do not mean to say you do not need others, what I mean is do not merely depend on others. Go out on a voyage over waters that were not mentioned in class. Bring your friends along on that voyage.
Think for yourself. Do not eat everything that is fed to you. Chew for yourself. But, that is not to say, you can always do it on your own.
Seek advice from experts. That is why you have advisers. Some may not have that specific title, but you should determine who truly can be. Even for important matters of your life. Seek Godly counsel from Godly counselors.
Do not be discouraged if you get bad grades. Although it is good to aim for high grades, and high grades will benefit you in the future, do not be discouraged if you do not get them, especially if you really tried your best. Grades are only a measure of how much you satisfied your teacher’s requirements, and is not necessarily a measure of your true intelligence. Though the best teachers will make the best grading system they possibly can, do not forget that your teachers are only human.
Do not expect perfection from your teachers. Do not expect us to be exempt from slips of the tongue. Do not expect that we know absolutely everything about the topics we teach. Do not get critical should you find that we are in error about something we said. Do not throw away the baby with the bath water. Learn to weed the chaff from the wheat. Someday you too may become an expert, and even then you too will make mistakes, and you too will seek understanding for these mistakes. Realize that mistakes do not necessarily always diminish one’s expertise for another to exclude everything that expert said. Remember, humans make mistakes. It would be inhuman to expect otherwise.
Think beyond the box. Do not limit yourself to textbooks or your teacher’s words. Experiment. Think. Prove. Disprove. Read some more. Listen some more. Think some more.
Do not take some of the things spoken to you too personally, be it coming from your teacher, another person of authority, or your classmates. Many people will judge you incorrectly. Forgive, understand. Avoid judging others.
Do not limit yourself to the conventional. Do not do something just because everybody else does it. Do not just go with the flow.
Beyond the subject matter, we hope you learn discipline, ethics, good morals, character, and a healthy attitude.
Read the Bible every day of your life, study it, learn what it means in your personal life.
Do not limit yourself to the thought that you will merely be in school, take subjects, finish your degree, get a job and have a family. Perhaps you were meant for not only that. Perhaps you were meant for better things. Maybe it is you who can come up with a solution to a problem that experts have long pondered upon. Maybe it is you who can come up with an invention or an innovation that can change the world. Maybe it is you who can make a difference. Maybe you are the catalyst. Maybe you can do great things someday. For all you know, you could be a supergenius. Maybe nobody knows it yet. Maybe you don’t know it yourself. Maybe it has not yet been developed. But it is your responsibility to develop yourself. Achieve your full potential. Be all you can be. Don’t settle for less. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Just because you are just a student now, does not mean you cannot become like the great men and women you may study about. Maybe you are not too distant from them. Maybe you are great, who is still in the process of learning how.
- A. L. E. -
(Originally written: 2005, November 19, 7:00 pm)
It is a privilege to teach you. But remember that we can only teach you so much. A trimester, a semester, a year, or four or five, is still a short amount of time to teach you everything. We cannot teach you everything. To use the time efficiently, we determine which among the topics you need to learn are most essential, thus what you are getting is only a sampling of what’s out there, limited by the time you invest with us. Granted, it is a well chosen sampling, selected by experts, but still nonetheless, just a sampling. The sampling was chosen in the hopes that it will build upon you a good foundation such that when you encounter new situations, the foundation built upon you will be a strong basis for you to tackle these new obstacles.
Do not be contented with what your teachers teach you. Do not be dependent on what is discussed in class. Learn more than that. Go beyond what was discussed in the lecture. Your teachers do not know everything. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to know more than what your teacher knows. Provoking you to probe further while pointing you in the right direction is better than feeding you bits of knowledge.
Always keep yourself updated. What we teach now may not be up to date by the time you graduate. Which is why we choose to teach those things which are timeless, because we are well aware that progress moves very fast, and although details may change, some essential principles do not. Understand these essential principles, and keep yourself updated with the current applications of these. Essentials are good, but so are details. Keep yourself updated with the details.
Study outside of class. Study on your own. No, I do not mean to say you do not need others, what I mean is do not merely depend on others. Go out on a voyage over waters that were not mentioned in class. Bring your friends along on that voyage.
Think for yourself. Do not eat everything that is fed to you. Chew for yourself. But, that is not to say, you can always do it on your own.
Seek advice from experts. That is why you have advisers. Some may not have that specific title, but you should determine who truly can be. Even for important matters of your life. Seek Godly counsel from Godly counselors.
Do not be discouraged if you get bad grades. Although it is good to aim for high grades, and high grades will benefit you in the future, do not be discouraged if you do not get them, especially if you really tried your best. Grades are only a measure of how much you satisfied your teacher’s requirements, and is not necessarily a measure of your true intelligence. Though the best teachers will make the best grading system they possibly can, do not forget that your teachers are only human.
Do not expect perfection from your teachers. Do not expect us to be exempt from slips of the tongue. Do not expect that we know absolutely everything about the topics we teach. Do not get critical should you find that we are in error about something we said. Do not throw away the baby with the bath water. Learn to weed the chaff from the wheat. Someday you too may become an expert, and even then you too will make mistakes, and you too will seek understanding for these mistakes. Realize that mistakes do not necessarily always diminish one’s expertise for another to exclude everything that expert said. Remember, humans make mistakes. It would be inhuman to expect otherwise.
Think beyond the box. Do not limit yourself to textbooks or your teacher’s words. Experiment. Think. Prove. Disprove. Read some more. Listen some more. Think some more.
Do not take some of the things spoken to you too personally, be it coming from your teacher, another person of authority, or your classmates. Many people will judge you incorrectly. Forgive, understand. Avoid judging others.
Do not limit yourself to the conventional. Do not do something just because everybody else does it. Do not just go with the flow.
Beyond the subject matter, we hope you learn discipline, ethics, good morals, character, and a healthy attitude.
Read the Bible every day of your life, study it, learn what it means in your personal life.
Do not limit yourself to the thought that you will merely be in school, take subjects, finish your degree, get a job and have a family. Perhaps you were meant for not only that. Perhaps you were meant for better things. Maybe it is you who can come up with a solution to a problem that experts have long pondered upon. Maybe it is you who can come up with an invention or an innovation that can change the world. Maybe it is you who can make a difference. Maybe you are the catalyst. Maybe you can do great things someday. For all you know, you could be a supergenius. Maybe nobody knows it yet. Maybe you don’t know it yourself. Maybe it has not yet been developed. But it is your responsibility to develop yourself. Achieve your full potential. Be all you can be. Don’t settle for less. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Just because you are just a student now, does not mean you cannot become like the great men and women you may study about. Maybe you are not too distant from them. Maybe you are great, who is still in the process of learning how.
- A. L. E. -
(Originally written: 2005, November 19, 7:00 pm)
