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Ask HN: How do I correct my poor academic hygiene ex post facto?

4 points by dqv ↗ HN
Ever since I can remember, I have had poor academic hygiene. In middle and high school I did the bare minimum to pass, but I was strongly reluctant to study or do homework. I purposefully missed 10 days because that was the maximum I could miss before getting an attendance failure. I went to a four-year university for a year and got a 3.94 GPA for both semesters, but I feel like I didn't learn much at all (and it is more likely that the grade was handed to me). The only classes I can recall that were intellectually challenging was a history course that had required reading. I had a hard time staying focused and it would usually end with me skimming the textbook and not really learning much at all.

I ended up quitting college because I had no academic focus. I didn't want to be in debt without a strong sense of focus on something I liked.

In the past few months, I've had the desire to learn something interesting. Unfortunately whenever I want to learn something new, I end up getting stuck in a "fractal" where I go so deep into a topic that I realize I know nothing at all. It really dampens my motivation.

For example, "I want to learn about farming" -> "I am going to read about basic gardening" -> "Soil is really important to gardens, I should learn about soil structure and healthy soil" -> "I have to learn about organisms in the soil" -> "To understand how these organisms interact with the soil, I'll need to learn the physics and chemistry behind it" -> "Wow, this physics and chemistry stuff is WAY over my head, I'm just going to give up learning about farming"

I guess I'm missing the foundation necessary to understand and study more advanced topics. I continue to be a poor mathematician, a lackluster writer, and an intellectually devoid person.

Is there anyone out there who has faced this same issue? How can I go about fixing my academic hygiene?

2 comments

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nostrademons
Why do you want to learn more about farming? To grow things? To become an expert in the topic? To sound interesting in parties? Because you've got time to fill and learning brings you pleasure?

Your answer will depend a lot on what the question was.

If you want to grow things, start by growing things, and only bother learning stuff if it doesn't grow. If it does, mission fucking accomplished, and you can move on to the next challenge.

If you want to become an expert in the topic, that's where specialization comes in. But first, decide that that's what you're going to become an expert in, and commit to it. This is the stuff of which Ph.Ds are made; you could spend a lifetime studying the chemistry of soils in one particular region of the globe. Be sure that's what you want before you go do it (or, well, try for a year or two and graduate with a masters if you change your mind).

If you want to sound smart at parties, you only need to know more than the other party-goers. Adjust your social circles appropriately. Be aware, though, that you sound smarter at parties if you're not trying to sound smart at parties.

If you're just learning for fun, then keep learning while it's fun and quit once it ceases to be. That's the whole point, after all.

I wouldn't characterize this as an academic hygiene problem, I'd characterize it as a "not knowing what you want, or not being honest with yourself about it" problem. Once you figure out your motivation, it's usually pretty obvious what you need to do to achieve it. You get into trouble when you either don't know what that is or when some part of you doesn't want to accept it.

dqv
>"not knowing what you want, or not being honest with yourself about it" problem

That's an accurate characterization. I want to find something really interesting and I haven't gotten there yet.

Thanks for your response. It gives me something to think about to help get closer to a resolution.