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ellenv's picture

change in motivation

 One thing that made me what to come to a liberal arts college was the fact that there was an emphasis on creating a well rounded student. Part of the problem I ran into in high school was the fact that I didnt know what I liked to do or which subjects I found interesting. Often, the subjects I liked the best were the subjects with the best teachers. It wasnt really the actual content of the class that I was drawn to, it was the way it was being taught or the atmosphere that was being created in the classroom. I would hate to think that I am, as a person, always stuck in what ever level of intelligence that I currently have. This would mean I would have stuck with those subjects that, like in high school, were not actually interesting to me in the long run. If we went by the idea that we are generally stuck in our level of intelligence, I dont think people would actually pursue fields of study that were interesting to them, the would choose a field of study that fit in nicely with what they already know. In order to learn, there is a necessary amount of struggle and conflict that is going to arise and when this does happen, it is quite possible that one day I would want to challenge myself to confront this challenge. At the same time though, it is also very possible that the next day I would not feel this same sense of motivation to challenge. Different motivations can exist within a person, so can intelligence really be considered in terms of motivation?

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