So many students attending university for the first time are a little puzzled by the fact that their concept of “right and wrong” seems to be somewhat eroded. Not in a moral sense, but in the classroom where the lecturer seems more concerned about you contributing to the discussion than whether your points are correct or not.
What is that all about?
Surely the only way of getting through your degree successfully depends on you knowing the right answer? And this would be especially true if you’re studying for a law or medical degree.
Why Contribute to the Discussion?
Have you ever gotten a maths paper back and you have been given marks for a complex problem despite getting the final answer wrong? Or, have you answered a history question which begins with “Why do you think…?” where your reasoning isn’t even close to the expected answer, but you get a good grade anyway?
That is the basic premise behind lecturers encouraging you to participate in classroom discussions. It encourages you to think, to put your opinions out there and have them measured by your fellow students.
It invites an examination of our own understanding of things and deliberating on how we came to these conclusions.
It may mean that we have to unlearn ideas that have shaped our thinking or prejudices that we have grown up accepting in order to accept new information as valid.
Perhaps you’ll get involved in a healthy debate where you have a strong opinion on something, yet your adversary has some very valid points worth considering which are contrary to your own.
Different cultures may see things very differently to you and listening to them relate an experience or opinion will open your eyes – if you let it.
Perhaps in the truest sense, there is always a right or a wrong answer. But something that your time in university will teach you is that the journey to finding the answer may be the most important thing.
So, sit up and pay attention, contribute to the discussion and try to find the why behind the point.