Ahmed: Difficult classes are often more fulfilling

We have all been there. It is the first week of May, the end of the spring term, and we are… We have all been there. It is the first week of May, the end of the spring term, and we are constantly refreshing the ‘My Grades’ page on PeopleSoft.

One by one, a brick of our fate is laid down, and when it’s finally over, we see the whole foundation. There might be a few A’s, some B’s and possibly some grades that are not as pretty.

The average national GPA awarded in American colleges and institutions has risen from 2.93 in 1992 to 3.11 in 2007.

Some attribute it to grade inflation, but if you’ve ever heard the older generation contrast the intensity of your study to that of their times, you get the feeling this GPA trend could be in part because, as a nation, on average, we’ve become more academically competitive.

We want that rocking internship, or we want to get into the best graduate school, best law school or best medical school. In general, we want the best we can get, and we will drive ourselves to the edge to get there — myself included.

The academic competitiveness of our time is taking away from the reason we came to college in the first place: to learn.

I have looked for the least resistive path to decent grades. I’ve frequented RateMyProfessors.com, looking through lists of professors reviewed by angst-absorbed students.

I entered college with that attitude — to get the highest statistics I could muster. So I took a certain political science course freshman year. The teacher was supposed to be lenient and fair, and she was.

Class was literally taking notes, memorizing the material word for word and then writing it down neatly on a piece of paper referred to as the test.

I cannot tell you one thing I “learned.”

That is not to say political science is easy, because it’s not, but this course was a breeze, particularly because of the structure.

Then I hit a brick wall.

I took Engineering Chemistry instead of the regular Chemistry because, as I assured myself, I could handle it.

Well, I couldn’t. The numerous equations, the calculus derivations, the abstract thinking — it was beyond me. I would stay up into the morning trying to perfect my lab reports, possibly to buffer my grade — life was full of entropy.

I ended the term on a low note, and I was exhausted.

But I would never undo it if I could. I learned more about physical and analytical chemistry than I ever would have if I didn’t sign up for this course.

Sure, my overconfidence, rather than my desire for science knowledge, drove me to take the class, but the result was the same. I learned much more, and I learned not to take the easy way out all the time.

That is an idealistic thought, but why would one take the lower grade every time? Just to learn? Psh.

More likely than not, by weathering such courses, you will adjust to the skills required. You’ll learn the material wholeheartedly, and eventually earn the grades you want.

It’s like when I took Human Physiology last term.

Everyone who had taken this course told me horror stories about the material and the exams. The stories even revealed that the professor would give students questions they had never seen.

Well, that might have been true, but everyone who offered these anecdotes always ended saying it was worth it.

I took the course, and I loved it. Multiple-hour lectures are no one’s favorite, but the class engaged my mind and I was finally learning the material cold.

I have more confidence in answering a physiology question than a political science one. At the end, I also earned the grade I wanted.

Maybe our prudence in taking courses is hindering. I am no academic advisor, but I can say that if you feel hesitant about a certain course because you don’t have the blessings of RateMyProfessors.com or your peers, take a chance. You could very well learn and enjoy yourself more than that guaranteed-grade class.

Taking demanding courses is not directly related to lower grades. Feeling so is a psychological complex — you only limit yourself.

As long as you learn enough the first time to be able to handle future “hard” courses, you will only enrich your academic experience. You might also feel a little more proud next time you visit PeopleSoft.

E-mail Abdul your thoughts at aba24@pitt.edu.