I'm A Helper, Not A Helpee
Hello blog and readers of it. Today I'm going to talk about a problem I've always had regarding homework, comprehension, and receiving help.
I'm currently redoing one of the few homeworks I've been assigned in The Meaning of Language because apparently I don't understand Discourse Representation Theory. I accidentally got my rough draft graded, but it turns out my final version isn't much better... I thought I knew what I was doing and now when I go to fix it I find I don't want to touch it for fear that I'll just do it wrong again.
Trying to be a good student, I'm going to attempt to retouch this assignment tonight and then tomorrow/Thursday I will visit the professor and ask her if I'm going about things the right way.
I'm totally dreading this. Why? I don't know. I've always hated asking for help. And, of course, the obvious reasons play into that: I don't want to look stupid (especially in front of the head of my department) and I don't want to waste somebody's time (especially the head of my department's time). But I think the more influential reason I don't like asking for help is that I don't know how to analyze my problems: I can never pinpoint what exactly it is I need to be asking in order to gear myself toward total comprehension. I usually settle for the partial comprehension I gain from exploring on my own and move on. (This is why I couldn't do CS and why I refuse to go to grad school, I guess.)
Okay, I feel better now.
Oh, real quick milk experiment update: neither milk has gone bad yet. Yey! However, my pasta sauce did. I guess you shouldn't lick a spoon and then dip it back in the jar...
I'm currently redoing one of the few homeworks I've been assigned in The Meaning of Language because apparently I don't understand Discourse Representation Theory. I accidentally got my rough draft graded, but it turns out my final version isn't much better... I thought I knew what I was doing and now when I go to fix it I find I don't want to touch it for fear that I'll just do it wrong again.
Trying to be a good student, I'm going to attempt to retouch this assignment tonight and then tomorrow/Thursday I will visit the professor and ask her if I'm going about things the right way.
I'm totally dreading this. Why? I don't know. I've always hated asking for help. And, of course, the obvious reasons play into that: I don't want to look stupid (especially in front of the head of my department) and I don't want to waste somebody's time (especially the head of my department's time). But I think the more influential reason I don't like asking for help is that I don't know how to analyze my problems: I can never pinpoint what exactly it is I need to be asking in order to gear myself toward total comprehension. I usually settle for the partial comprehension I gain from exploring on my own and move on. (This is why I couldn't do CS and why I refuse to go to grad school, I guess.)
Okay, I feel better now.
Oh, real quick milk experiment update: neither milk has gone bad yet. Yey! However, my pasta sauce did. I guess you shouldn't lick a spoon and then dip it back in the jar...