An Emotional and Intellectual Survival Manual for Students by Inge Bell - Book Report/Review Example

This Book Is Not Required: An Emotional and Intellectual Survival Manual for Introduction The book, This Book Is Not Required: An Emotional and Intellectual Survival Manual for Students by Inge Bell breaks new ground in education. It provides useful insights and inspiration to undergraduate students to make the best of their years in college. The book teaches the students about the college experience as a whole. College students have social, personal, spiritual, and intellectual opportunities and demands. It is a book relevant to today’s college going students and it helps them make reasonable decisions while in college. Ten things to do before getting out of college The book is helpful to a college freshman in guarding them on the things they should do before leaving college. Reading the book as a college freshman has helped me understand the fun that comes with going to college. Staying in the dormitory is one of the advice Bell gives to the students. Living in a dorm is interesting as one gets to meet new people and form lifelong friendships (Bell, 2013 p. 4). Many advantages come with emotional and intellectual survival. Knowing how to associate with people that are not your family is helpful in making a person into a better version of themselves for the sake of future relations. I have been living in a college dorm since I was a freshman, and it has been fun so far getting to know my fellow dorm mates. Bell suggests one should go study abroad to be able to learn new cultures and different people’s way of life. I do not have an opportunity to go study abroad, but I would love to go try a new environment in future. My perspective of studying in another country was changed completely after reading the book. I did not know the importance of meeting new people and learning new cultures until I read the book. Bell advice freshmen to meet with a counselor, when they join college. It helps them with the advice of going through the four years in school. The students should commit themselves to community service in their free time and not waste their time doing unusual things that do not add value to their lives. Community service is a great way to socialize and meet people who will be helpful in ones life. Community service can lead one to finding a part-time job that will help with day to day expenses while at school (Bell, 2013 p. 15). Part time jobs are interesting and helpful, but are time-consuming. One may not be able to balance their time well when they concentrate on the part time job. Balancing between one’s studies, part time job and trying to have a social life can be difficult while in college. The other things Bell advises one to do is go to office hours and attending school rallies. Office hours help one get the experience needed to be better at what they do when they finish their studies. The part of the book that shows interest is how one needs to get their heart broken at least once while still in college. Bell gives out romantic love and how it is bliss to be in love. However, people can be at different stages in life and decide the relationship is not working. Bell says it is okay to have your heart broken as it helps one grow emotionally and makes one strong. The kind of romantic relationship I am currently having is from my high school days. I am yet to experience heartbreak in college, but the book helped me prepare for it before I get to experience the pain that comes from heartbreaks. Spirituality is essential in everyone’s life, and Bell advises the students to get charge of their spirituality and find who they are and what they want spiritually (Bell, 2013 p. 20). I am still finding my inner self and spirituality by attending church and reading spiritual books. It is interesting to know and depend on a higher power for your day to day living and guidance on how to lead a real life. Bell says one should take a class outside their requirements to be able to explore about other disciplines. Staying awake and studying new things every day helps one have a meaningful life. The Teacher – Student contradictions There is a significant contradiction between the teachers and the students that are receiving the education. The teachers work to teach and the students to get taught. There is the misconception that the teachers always know everything, and they are always right (Bell, 2013 p. 58). The teachers can be wrong on rare occasions, or they can make new discoveries while in class. The students go to class knowing nothing at all. It is the misconception and people are surprised when a student discusses a topic in class that is presumed to be a new idea to the students. My lecturers are always right since I started college, and there has not been any incident where a teacher receives a challenge from a student and is not able to explain himself or herself. There are bright students who are always ahead of the lecturer. They are usually eager to learn new things thus study ahead of the class and just come to the teachers for clarification. It is an interesting relationship between the two as it gets exciting to see a debate between a teacher and a student. The teachers are supposed to know everything and think on behalf of the students (Bell, 2013 p. 58). The teacher disciplines and the students get disciplined. The teachers are the ones that should talk and the students listen. Misconceptions abound regarding the relationship between teachers and students from what I have learned in college. The relation that the teachers and the students have is that of a friendly nature. There is communication between the two, and there is no struggle for superiority between a teacher and a student. There is the rule that a teacher comes up with the rules, and the students should follow and comply with the rules without asking any questions. The rule does not apply to our class. The teacher talks and the students listen. Listening to the teacher is necessary and helpful, but it should not be the only way to study. Studying is a two-way traffic in order to attain communication between the two. The program content and what the students will learn comes from the teacher. It is appropriate as the teacher is more knowledgeable concerning the contents of the topics the students are learning. The authority of knowledge gets confused when the teacher uses their power to command the students into what they should get for education. It is a difficult concept to adopt, and it is wrong to treat students in a way that would make them feel they are not an essential part of the learning process. It has been very difficult to know when the teachers are exercising their authority and when they are helping us get the knowledge we require in our respect fields of work. The teacher should not be the subject of the learning process while the students are objects (Bell, 2013 p. 59). It is an act I am yet to experience in my class as the teachers have a good relationship with the students. Technology and Learning Technology is necessary for the everyday learning process as the students get to discover the new ways of doing things. Bell talks about the positive and negative aspects that come with technology and learning the technology in institutions. The positive side of technology in the learning institutions is that the students can have a connection at all times. The relationship and the students’ interaction are assured to be continuous with the improvement of technology in their day to day living. The students’ emotional and intellectual survival depends highly on the type of relationships the students’ have with each other (Bell, 2013 p. 92). I have personally gained a lot of the technology and its way of improving my life on a day to day basis. Communication between my peers is easy, and I can get them on any platform now. The learning process has also improved as there are new software and applications that help one in studying. Applications to carry out research work are available for the students’ in their learning process. The negative part of technology is that it destroys physical relationships. The young people that go to college are concentrating a lot on their phones and computers. People are always on the computers finding new relationships or building relationships online instead of doing it physically. The physical relationship is crucial to being with people and talking to people is what makes lifetime friendships as opposed to social media friendships. The amount of time people are spending discovering new things in the technology world affects their relations with loved ones (Bell, 2013 p. 93). Everyone is always working on his or her computers, tablets or phones. The students go on dates and instead of getting to know each other, they spend that time checking their social media or updating their social media accounts. I am a victim of harmful technology as I am always on my phone or my computer and thus lose concentration on my friends. Video games take up most of my social time, thus rendering me anti-social. Bell advises against negative energy in technology and learning and says it can affect one’s life. The book is helpful as it made me realize I have to balance my social life and time I spend on my computer. I have also learned how useful technology is during my time and learn to appreciate it. The other negative part of technology is that it affects the relationship between the student and the professor. The professors do not get to share with the students their experience and knowledge as the students depend on the search engines for most of their work and assignments. The learning process in class suffers greatly from improved technology (Bell, 2013 p. 93). The professor is the central figure in the formal education of college. The relationship between the students and the teacher should, therefore, have a significant improvement and should not suffer because of education. The learning process in the classroom should have a better empowerment from an interactive relationship between teacher and student. The professors at most of my classes give us assignments for us to go research and work on them. The interaction between my professors and me is strained as the professor has little to say when they come to teach. Conclusion The book offers great incitement about college life and the different ways to enjoy college life. There are tricks on how to have a presentation as well as how to relate to the professors and lecturers. The book also tells us how to improve our social skills and how to nourish ourselves spiritually. An excellent book would help any freshman going to college. References Bell, I. (2013). This Book Is Not Required: An Emotional and Intellectual Survival Manual for Students. New York: Sage Publication. Read More