Below is the transcript of the speech given by graduating Honors Studies Scholar Tyler Deskins, class of 2018. A graduate of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Mathematics track, Tyler is heading on to SUNY Potsdam in the fall to study math with the hopes of getting into their BA/MA concurrent program in the spring. We wish Tyler all the best as he moves on. Also, student guest bloggers are my favorite posts to make and I hope that you enjoy it as well...
My name is Tyler Deskins and I
am a mathematics major here at FLCC. (I hope that doesn’t scare anyone away)
Today I’ve been asked to reflect a little on what the honors program has meant
to me in my journey at FLCC. I honestly
don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that without my involvement in this
honors program, I would not be the type of learner that I am today. At the very least, I would not be striving
for academics in the way I am right now, nor would I have that drive that keeps
me going. A great deal of my development
as a learner has occurred in these honors classes. I’ve experienced some of my greatest
challenges in them, I’ve celebrated some of my greatest triumphs in them with
my fellow students, and perhaps most importantly, my college career started in
the honors program as well.
My first semester attending
FLCC was in the spring of 2015. I was 16
years old at the time and this was meant to be an introductory semester for
me. Since the fourth grade up until that
point in my life, I was homeschooled, and I had been away from a classroom for
such a long period that I was just trying to get myself acclimated to the
academic environment again. I started by
taking two classes that semester. Loving
mathematics, it was natural for me to take an introductory statistics
class. Not so natural, however, was my
decision to enroll in an honors English 101 course. At the time (I apologize Dr. Merrill) I
detested English. * Dr. Merrill interjects “We’ve been doing this back and forth forever.” * In part because I didn’t really know what the
subject was. I thought that English was
learning information just to regurgitate it back to the professors. Merely paraphrasing information, not the
critical thinking I now know it to be.
Additionally, at the time I was quite nervous about my competency. Without a high school education, I believed I
would not be able to excel at the English course. However, despite my anxiety over the subject
(and with a bit of prodding from my parents), I enrolled.
The peak of my anxiety in that
class occurred during our third class meeting.
I don’t recall why the subject was introduced, but we were having a
class discussion about what we’ve learned in high school about English. Part way though, Professor Margaret Gillio
began her side of the discussion by saying “So we all know these ‘rules of
English’ that we learned in high school…” and she began listing things such as
paragraph structure, how to format a sentence properly, etc. My heart sank. Never had I formally learnd those rules. I could understand them – after all, I had
passed the placement exam to get into English 101 – but I was terrified that I
would now be failing this class because I did not have these rules
memorized. And then I heard her say (I’m
paraphrasing a little, but not much) “Now you know that list of rules you
learned in high school? Take it, crumple
it up, throw it out the window. It does not belong in a collegiate level
English classroom. Part of what you will be doing in this class, and
what may be a great challenge for some of you, is unlearning these supposed
‘rules.’” That little speech gave me a
great deal of encouragement because, for what seemed like the first time, I
realized I was ahead of the curb because
I didn’t have a high school education; which was awesome!! As a result, I attacked the rest of the work
in that semester. Instead of just trying
to pass the class I actively engaged with the material and gave it
thought. It was still very challenging
for me, but I enjoyed every minute of it.
It was such an amazing learning experience for me.
My next
semester – again, I was attending part time so I only took two classes that
semester as well – I didn’t enroll in any honors classes. In part because I didn’t know what the
difference between honors and non-honors classes were. The two classes I took were Interpersonal
Communications and another English class; Composition II. Surprisingly, that Composition II class is
probably one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken, largely because the
instructor ran it much like an honors class.
The Interpersonal Communications class felt very… different; and not in
a good way. I disliked the class’s lecture
style as well as the expectation of just assimilating information – like what I
thought English was the year before – just to regurgitate it on an exam or
paper. I didn’t at the time, but I now
understand what sets the Honors Classes apart.
In an Honors Class, the goal is to foster and develop critical
thought. They use the course curriculum
as an opportunity to practice critical thinking in a supportive
environment. In traditional classes, you
get the most out of them if you have that ability to think critically but a lot
can be missed without it. In them,
critical thought is a prerequisite for true understanding but not a learning
outcome.
The
following semester I relapsed and found myself taking three honors classes; a
Psychology class, an Introduction to Literature class, and a chemistry class
(while not typically an Honors Class it was made one through an honors
contract). The first two subjects I
never expected to engage in, much less enjoy.
But to my surprise I loved both of them and became really immersed in
the material. The chemistry class was
much more challenging. What an honors
contract means is that I am essentially the only one in my class doing the
critical thought that is the hallmark of an Honors Class. It was very difficult without the community
of Honors Students to help support my inquiry and development. But I found this to be a very helpful
learning experience as well. This
Semester I did an independent study– not an honors independent study but one in
advanced mathematics – and the chemistry course from that semester helped
prepare me for the inquiry that I would have to do on my own in order to
understand the material. This was my
first step in doing such major inquiry on my own; something that I will
certainly need to do again if I choose to pursue a graduate degree down the
line.
The following
semester I took two of the hardest class I’ve ever taken; both Honors
Classes. One was Dr. Merrill’s
perspectives on J. R. R. Tolkien – the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy
– and the other was a Philosophy of Ethics class by Dr. Worrell. While I already enjoyed both subjects, these
two classes forced me to engage with the material far deeper than I ever
intended to. To merely create work
considered passable for both, I needed to sink a great deal of effort into each
thought I put on paper. They pushed the
limits of my writing ability; they shattered the preconceived notion that I
would never have to nor be able to write at such a level. I struggled in each assignment but never gave
up. They make the education ahead of me
look easy, and I am grateful for that.
Unfortunately,
that was my last semester taking an Honors Class. For the past three semesters I’ve desperately
tried to work some into my schedule but have had no success. Regardless, I am thankful for just how well
my Honors Classes have prepared me for traditional classes as I now have a firm
grasp on the critical thought that is required to get the most I can out of
them. For instance, History was another
subject I absolutely dreaded at the age of 16.
Similar to English, I thought it was simply repeating back to your
professor the material that both you and they already knew. I now know that assumption was completely false. The two History classes I took at this
college were amazing because I could look at them through a critical lens. I could interact with the people in these
classes who were also looking to critically engage with the material. We tried to learn as much as we could about
the causes and influences of major events and we didn’t just do that by
passively listening to lectures. We
asked the professors, we challenged each other’s ideas, we found information on
our own, and we had a blast doing it.
Perhaps
the most important thing my Honors Classes have taught me is to look at the
interdisciplinary nature of subjects; that no subject exists in isolation. This is especially true, believe it or not,
for different topics in mathematics.
Mathematical topics are typically taught segregated. Calculus I-III and Differential Equations are
treated separate from Linear and Abstract Algebra, which in turn are treated
separate from Geometry and Topology, etc.
If you’re just trying to take these classes and assimilate as much
information as you can, you are certain to miss the big picture. But when you start looking for and seeing all
the connections between topics, in my opinion, that’s where the true beauty of
mathematics can be found. I mean, for
goodness sake, I did a mathematics presentation this semester on forms of
non-standard mathematical logic and their connections to Buddhist
philosophy! Treating the subjects as
separate entities, such a natural connection may never have been made. And this certainly isn’t a property exclusive
to mathematics.
This constant curiosity is how
I have developed myself as a learner and how I will continue to develop myself
as a learner as I move on from FLCC.
Without this foundation that my Honors Classes have provided me with, I
would not be the learner I am today.
Looking at my journey up ahead, it is very important to me that I have
such a foundation. For all the Honors
instructors and students I’ve met in and out of Honors Classes –and for all
people who have supported me throughout my journey as a student – I really want
to thank you for creating such an amazing environment. One where people who truly want to learn, to
engage more with the material and dig deeper, can find this community and help
each other grow in meaningful ways. I
hope that one day all of us accepting our honors diplomas will make you proud
to have been the people who helped make us who we are. Thank you.
