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Michelle Nelson

Marisa Enos

ENG 111.W03

04 March 2018

The Habit of Learning

Habits begin to form starting from the time a person is born. Bad habits or good habits,

they become a part of the way people live. These habits can have a profound impact in many

different areas of a person’s life, one of which is the educational experience. If the proper habits

aren’t formed, the adjustment to higher level academics is most certainly going to be a difficult

transition. The way students interact with others, the language they learn to use, and the manner

in which they are taught are just a few examples of the habits that are formed throughout

childhood that have a significant influence on later learning.

One habit that is shaped throughout childhood is interaction with others. This includes

fellow students as well as teachers. The way students are taught help to mold the habits they

develop regarding communication with others. Unfortunately, in many cases students are

essentially discouraged from engaging at all, especially in the teacher-student relationship. This

greatly hinders their ability to communicate on an academic level once the student enters college.

As Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire claims in “The ‘Banking’ Concept of

Education”, students are simply fed information and then expected to reproduce it on demand.

This doesn’t encourage a deeper understanding and knowledge of the material being discussed, it

simply encourages students to memorize what is deemed important long enough to pass the test

at the end. In this environment, Freire argues,

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Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the

depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the

teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently

receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the “banking” concept of education, in

which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving,

filing, and storing the deposits. (Freire 1)

When students are fed information without the opportunity to challenge or question this

information with any kind interaction or input of their own, there is no habit of intellectual

communication formed. This method of teaching greatly diminishes the creativity of the student

and acts to oppress their communication and critical thinking skills. These are important traits

required for a successful college experience.

This underdeveloped habit of communication inhibits the new college student’s ability to

succeed. Without having an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations, students aren’t

prepared for the level of academic exchanges that are necessary in a college setting. Students

haven’t had the opportunity to create good habits toward communication and learn appropriate

language for the academic setting. In “A Troublesome Threshold: Entering Academic

Conversations” Iliana Miller, English and Humanities Faculty at Mid-Michigan Community

College, reasons “Before we enter into a conversation, the first thing we need to do is listen. Our

goal is to be able to understand what others say and mentally engage in the conversation. Then

we can enter the conversation and contribute our opinion” (Miller 4). Not having had much

opportunity to participate in their own learning as Freire described, many students lack the

important skill, or habit, of maintaining an academic conversation. They have not properly been

taught to mentally engage, as they have always been force fed all the information necessary to do
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well, without a need for deeper understanding. There was never an opportunity for this

important habit to de established.

A comparable belief regarding habit is described by Robert Leamnson, Professor of

Biology and Director of Multidisciplinary Studies at the University of Massachusetts,

Dartmouth. Leamnson’s book titled “Thinking About Teaching and Learning” discusses habits

regarding studying in a passage titled “Today’s First-Year Students”. Leamnson claims “It’s a

rare student who will go off and study psychology, not because a quiz is coming up, but simply

because psychology is getting ahead of her and she needs to catch up” (Leamnson 77).

Leamnson continues, claiming the mind set of many first-year students is that the only time

necessary to study is just prior to a test. This reaffirms Freire’s idea that students are

programmed to receive information only to recite it on demand. Those are the habits that have

been instilled from a young age.

It’s hard to remain surprised that today’s new college students are unprepared when one

takes the time to look at the educational tendencies that have been fortified from the beginning of

school. The habits that have been encouraged for the most part are not conducive to success in

upper level education. It would be far better to establish critical thinking and communication

habits at a far younger age, rather than trying to change poor habits once the student enters the

college level education. According to Leamnson, “It’s far easier to teach a five-year-old (given

the talent and skill to do it) than a nineteen-year-old… Nineteen years of experience do not make

the young adult brain easier to deal with” (Leamnson 74-75). It is essential to encourage the

right habits for success at a young age. A person might believe that after 13 years of school, a

student should be more than capable of succeeding in college. While it is undoubtedly accurate

to say a lot is learned in those 13 years, sadly much of what is learned is often counterproductive.
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“Many will have habits, of mind and body, quite inappropriate for the task they are about to

undertake. In the case of first-year students, a prominent element of teaching might be thought

of as a reconstructing of the student mind” (Leamnson 75). It would seem that the student would

be much further ahead if this reconstructing of the mind wasn’t necessary to begin with. If the

habits formed prior to college were better aimed toward critical thinking and engaging in

academic conversation, just for starters, students would have an easier transition to the

requirements of college level education. Leamnson further indicates that “Because the attitudes

and habits of typical freshmen are at such odds with those of their teachers, new students suffer,

literally, a cultural shock in their first-year of college” (Leamnson 79). Students are simply not

prepared to enter this new chapter of their lives, in large part due to lacking suitable habits for

success at this level of education.

What does it take to shape desirable habits that will support a successful educational

experience? Speaking on the significance of habits, James VanderMey, Professor of English and

Humanities at Mid-Michigan Community College, shared in his Honors Convocation speech

titled “Remarks on Habit” the importance of working to develop and maintain respectable habits

that are necessary for professional success. VanderMey warns against allowing habits to

“become mere repetitiveness, so that we fail to attend to the newness or difference in the

situation that trigger the habit into action” (VanderMey 17). Instead, he encourages students to

continue to challenge themselves and build on those good habits to keep them alive and growing.

It is a never-ending task of continued practice.

There is much to be learned from these notable authors regarding the effects a person’s

habits have on their education. Habits are most often shaped without intention. They develop

over time from repeated practice. Wouldn’t it be advantageous if students were taught to be
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active participants in their education from an early age? As they mature through the younger

years and are gradually given more opportunities as they get older to engage in meaningful

conversation and are encouraged to be critical thinkers, there would be a much smoother

transition to the college environment. The process never ceases, however. “There will be new

challenges ahead. You will need to keep practicing, discipling yourself, inviting challenges, and

learning more to keep your skills alive and growing” (VanderMey 17).
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Works Cited

Freire, Paulo. “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education” pp. 1-12

Leamnson, Robert. “Today’s First-Year Students” Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st

Century. Pearson, 2016, pp 73-85

Miller, Iliana. “A Troublesome Threshold” Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st

Century. Pearson, 2016, pp 3-6

VanderMey, James. “Remarks on Habit” Exploring Connections: Learning in the 21st Century.

Pearson, 2016, pp 12-17