One major purpose of universities is for students to acquire knowledge that will help them in the future. Universities should teach students information and knowledge to prepare the future generation for successful careers. We, as students, learn so much in our classes from both our professors and our peers. Even though we may not use all the knowledge we gain, we are still learning skills through acquiring that knowledge. Many times throughout my middle school and high school years, I have thought, “What is the point of learning this? I am never going to use this in my future.” Whenever I complained about this, my dad always replied, “You are learning how to learn.”
This is so true. Through learning new material and interacting with teachers and classmates, we learn how to use knowledge to create solutions. We learn time management, study skills, and how to work with others. All these skills are essential for the rest of our lives, whether in pursuing a career or raising a family. In order to better prepare ourselves for the future, universities focus on learning that is “based on discovery guided by mentoring rather than on the transmission of information” (337). We are not just given facts and equations to memorize, even though sometimes this is the case. In many of my classes, we are graded on class participation. This allows us to see how we work with others. Also, everything is not just spoon fed to us. We are forced to read directions and figure out solutions to problems. Many professors “insist that [students] create their own topics and pursue them without interference as much as possible” (337). I think this is a great teaching theory because it teaches students how to learn things on their own. This is connected back to our topic on the right side versus the left side of the brain. Universities are more and more not just geared towards teaching to the left side of the brain. Instead, we are encouraged to use the right creative side of our brain through discovery learning and computerized hypermedia. Students gain much knowledge while attending a university.
This is so true. Through learning new material and interacting with teachers and classmates, we learn how to use knowledge to create solutions. We learn time management, study skills, and how to work with others. All these skills are essential for the rest of our lives, whether in pursuing a career or raising a family. In order to better prepare ourselves for the future, universities focus on learning that is “based on discovery guided by mentoring rather than on the transmission of information” (337). We are not just given facts and equations to memorize, even though sometimes this is the case. In many of my classes, we are graded on class participation. This allows us to see how we work with others. Also, everything is not just spoon fed to us. We are forced to read directions and figure out solutions to problems. Many professors “insist that [students] create their own topics and pursue them without interference as much as possible” (337). I think this is a great teaching theory because it teaches students how to learn things on their own. This is connected back to our topic on the right side versus the left side of the brain. Universities are more and more not just geared towards teaching to the left side of the brain. Instead, we are encouraged to use the right creative side of our brain through discovery learning and computerized hypermedia. Students gain much knowledge while attending a university. Our precious years spent at the University of Texas are also a time for us to grow as a person. As we are making the transition from childhood to adulthood, another purpose of universities is to 
offer students a time to grow into the person they will be. Up until now, our lives have been greatly affected by our parents or guardians. Our parents were the ones who told us when to do things, told us to go to school, told us when to eat, taught us values, and supported us with a place to live and food to eat. While many of our parents are still supporting us through college, we are still given a huge amount of responsibility and freedom. We are on our own now and make our decisions for ourselves. We take what we have learned up until now and form ourselves into who we want to be. College is a time for us to grow into independent adults. Universities offer students a chance “to learn as much as they can about the nature of being human, about the history and diversity of their own society, about other cultures, about how individuals and societies are likely to react to crises such as 9/11…” (319). We need to learn what we want in ourselves. It is important to learn about the diversity in our world and the various cultures in order to understand our own self and culture. Our relationships teach us many things about ourselves and how we get along with others as well as the qualities we want our potential friends or loved ones to possess. As we learn all these things, we are growing and developing into the person we are going to become for our lives.
offer students a time to grow into the person they will be. Up until now, our lives have been greatly affected by our parents or guardians. Our parents were the ones who told us when to do things, told us to go to school, told us when to eat, taught us values, and supported us with a place to live and food to eat. While many of our parents are still supporting us through college, we are still given a huge amount of responsibility and freedom. We are on our own now and make our decisions for ourselves. We take what we have learned up until now and form ourselves into who we want to be. College is a time for us to grow into independent adults. Universities offer students a chance “to learn as much as they can about the nature of being human, about the history and diversity of their own society, about other cultures, about how individuals and societies are likely to react to crises such as 9/11…” (319). We need to learn what we want in ourselves. It is important to learn about the diversity in our world and the various cultures in order to understand our own self and culture. Our relationships teach us many things about ourselves and how we get along with others as well as the qualities we want our potential friends or loved ones to possess. As we learn all these things, we are growing and developing into the person we are going to become for our lives. As you can see, universities have numerous goals and purposes for us students to take advantage of while we are here. Our time spent at the university is a time for us to learn much knowledge as well as grow into the person we want to be. It is our time to figure out what we want to accomplish in life and create our own sense of identity. While I am here at the University of Texas, I truly hope to figure out what I want in life and prepare myself for a happy and successful future.
*The first picture shows a group of students working together, which is a great part of college both inside and outside the classroom. It is an essential life skill to learn.
*The second picture shows the lit up tower at the University of Texas which represents the many ideals and purposes of the university.
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