Joseph is a first year student of business. He is smart, speaks two languages. Joseph has been at university now for 6 months, and as a freshman, has taken part in many activities. He is funny and popular, but he is not doing very well in his courses.
Joseph is not sure what kind of work he should be doing in his Introduction to Sociology class but nothing is very interesting, Joseph feels that if the professor had something important to say, he would tell the students to listen, or to write something. But he doesn’t - he just sits there and talks as if he’s having a one-sided conversation. Joseph thinks there will be an exam, buthe is not sure when that will be. He has no idea what kind of test it will be, and no plans for studying for it, as he does not know what to study
“Creative Projection” - but he cannot see what any of this has to do with business. So Joseph feels that he doesn’t really have to study hard, since there isn’t anything to study and besides, whatever they ask on the exams, he is sure he already knows. Joseph got very low grades on his first semester exams, but that was not his fault.
Jennifer is also a first year student, in engineering, she is not as socially active as Joseph, and she only joined one club in her first semester - the dance club - and that was mainly for the exercise. She has a few friends, people but does not spend all her time with people, as she prefers to be alone
Jennifer takes three of the same classes as Joseph. But her behavior is quite different from his. She sits in the Sociology class in the front row so she can hear the professor. She takes notes on the points he makes, and she goes to the library or online to find the articles he suggests for further reading. But at the end of every class, the Professor asks the students to write a short review to reflect on the ideas he has discussed. She writes this reflection every week and sends it to him by email.
For the first month, Jennifer gets no response from the professor. But when she writes in her reflection that a lesson was not clear and she really did not understand his point about social welfare, he answers her. And suddenly a whole new world of meaning opens up for Jennifer. She sees his idea from this explanation. She goes to the library and reads more about it. She starts to experience a strong feeling of satisfaction with herself and her learning. Life is beginning to become interesting.