ask the question out of your classes, “Why am I taking this?” if its just a comp course then just take the comp course and move on. Every school has em, and theres nothing to be done about that. If these courses are core to your major, then perhaps you should consider changing your major or adding a minor or another Major with things that interest you.

Sure business might be good for a degree, but when you’re more interested in comparative Russian literature learning about customer flow and statistical data collection isn’t going to cut it, so taking on some classes about Russian Literature won’t help, but It will round out your education.

Remember that this is your education and take charge of it. What usually kept me going in class was asking questions and keeping in mind two things.

1. Question Authority. Just because your teacher is your teacher does not mean that she knows everything. if there’s a question you have and it doesn’t involve the dating lives of the French during the revolution, ask it. If you have a point that is relevant to the discussion make it. Do not let anyone tell you to put your hand down or sit down. Your education is your business.

2. Making sure that when I had to write a paper I was writing it on something I was interested in. When I wrote a paper for my very southern Civil War teacher, I wrote a paper defending one of the most atrocious events to happen to the South, and I got an A because I wrote better and was more attuned to the writing.

so in closing. Take charge of your education. Don’t just look at your major when registering for classes take the class that looks like fun and round out your hours and your major with something that is fun to you.

Educational research shows that 70% of most people spend an average day communicating by

45% listening

30% speaking

16% reading

9% writing

So it shouldn’t be surprising that about 90% of what people know was acquired by listening.

Also, listening is a psyhco-physical response….that is there is a mental process involved and a physical process. The actual anatomy of hearing is biological / electrical / mechanical—sounds waves affecting the ear which translates it to electrical signals to your brain. All that physical movement takes time to happen. Once translated into electrical signals, the pace picks up. So listening starts off slow (speed of sound—about 761 mph, or 1100 feet/second), than speeds up to almost the speed of electrons (about 670,616,629.2 miles per hour or 983,571,056 feet per second, which is about 186,282.397 miles per second, or roughly one foot per nanosecond). So since the distance of you ear to your brain is fairly short…it seems rather obvious that your brain is working much faster than your ear…..and this is the reason you feel bored, doze off…and when you awake, feel a bit lost in class.

Other educational research reveals some interesting numbers about students and lessons and retention of the lesson. Remember people get 90% of their knowledge by listening. But they only remember about 25% of what they hear. And about 48 hours after your class, 50% of that is lost. So 90% of your knowledge is only 1/8th of what you heard!!

OK, so your brain is capable of working way faster than you ear…some estimates put it at 4 X faster. So you have 1/4 of your brain connected to the ear…and the other 3/4 of your brain are….wondering what’s for lunch, who you might ask out for the weekend, thinking about a movie or concert coming up, and a giga-zillion other things at lighting fast speeds…WAITING for your slower bio/mechanical/electro ears to send up some info.

Geezzz…no wonder you’re getting bored or sleepy. This is like sitting and waiting for the city bus to come during rush hour on a rainy day.

Solution possibilities:

1. Be an Active Listener: put some of the surplus brain power to work. As you listen, have your brain start finding answers to the basic English question words…who, what, when, where, how, why…about what the speaker is saying.

2. Draw: Educational research shows that when students are give text to read and then are tested on it, they get a certain score. Give the students the same text with a relevant diagram or illustration, then are tested on it…the scores reveal a 60% increase in retention of the information! No wonder they say a picture is worth a thousand words! Making sketches and diagrams …flow charts are diagrams…requires visual and muscular control….all requiring some of the surplus brain power you have.

3. Don’t assume you heard what was meant: You’ve heard some people say….I know you heard what I said, but that’s NOT what I meant. Take a speech class and you soon find out that many people REACT to what is being said, and may not have really understood what was being said. That’s how lots of fights start…someone says something…the other person reacts (didn’t really listen to comprehend what was being said)…and in my book react does NOT equal reason / understanding.

4. Before class, make a numerical outline of the assignment…or a rough outline…should be short enough to fit on one side of the paper. Keep this out on the desk and follow the information flow of the lesson using the outline. Visual inputs to the brain will help use up some of the surplus brain power you have.

OK…get the picture? I did this and managed to complete 2 college degrees. Hope it helps you. Good luck in your studies.

PS…We used to joke that some students who fell asleep in class were using a new “sleep learning” method. The problem was, in order to recall the information, they needed to put their heads down on the test papers and fall asleep, too!