Class Discussion Notes: 9.28.2005

• (Eleanor) getting caught up in technology causes you to lose touch with your peers- something you don’t want to be

• being bogged down with professional goals vs. never being preoccupied with professionalism/jobs

• business world causes you to lose connection with others—maybe its because liberal arts are more discussion based (discussing abstract ideas that can be controversial) vs. straight finance (I’m sure business ethics classes have close connections with people and discussion)

• nourishing the whole individual leads to perfectionism

• defensiveness/fear among liberal arts students—stems from (1) majority don’t have much faith in themselves and (2) fear of the unknown

• F.E.A.R.- false evidence of anything real.
• both family and university have this fear
• passed on through the generations (depression, etc.)
• different expressions of fear (ex: walking around a ranch and seeing rabbits)

• (Genevra) very few people take one job out of college and keep it for the rest of their lives—most people change fields, so a lot of the pressure is a misconception—you keep learning about yourself and what you want to pursue long after you leave college

• (Ben)- honors programs vs. other classes—teaching how to follow and memorize instructions vs. how to innovate and integrate

• (Willy) reassured in liberal arts degree that we’re among a group of people that will be successful because we rise above the challenge and adapt to different situations

• (Ben) “This is why we are here: To become part, of and to create a society which encourages a broad understanding and an open mind.”

• (Professor Bump) UT seal- become guardians of democracy—that’s a higher purpose (a very tradition liberal arts purpose)

• (Susan) interesting that most of our fear is of failure—we’ve never really had to deal with failure--- Is it really that wrong to fail? Is it really that bad if we graduate and can’t use our degree or have to get our feet wet for a year?

• (Anush) rather than accept one small failure, like a B, you make your own choice and withdraw out of fear of acceptance
• to prevent it- we need to know ourselves better. if we have an honest idea of what we are worth, we won’t be afraid of failure—we won’t think of it as the very beginning of a long line of failure, because we’ll know what we’re capable of e
• fear of disappointment—plan II gives you a chance to be self-motivated and inspired by other people

• (May) motivation comes from being challenged and not getting over-confident. reassurance causes her to mess up; general support can be diffusing

• how to manage all of your emotions

• (Rachel/Professor Bump) bag that you carry around—will you take some of the stuff in the bag and set it down or will you carry it around?

• (Laura) “This may be one of the reasons I am here, to better learn how to learn.  But I won't know for sure until I'm beyond this point and looking back.” the reason a person makes a decision is often different than the reason they find when they look back at it (ex: reason for going to college in the beginning might be different from the reason you see when you look back)