Persistence
and Creativity
Two years
after I quit college, my interest in an education had been contentedly asleep
for two years after High school. But surprisingly my brother- in-law, Miland Coburn
D.D.S., who graduated from Loyola and practiced dentistry in Payson, UT stunned
me when he told me his dental office usually takes in a hundred dollars a day.
A hundred dollars a day. Imagine that! I had to be a dentist.
I was
in my second year of attendance at the “U”.
I dreaded having to go to college as I had low grades even though I
would study twelve hours a day. I thought I wasn't very smart.
I fussed over
what foods are best to eat before a high-stakes test, when is the best time to
review the toughest material? I would test myself repeatedly before an exam to
retrieve and apply knowledge from memory, re-read textbooks. If I was facing a
biology test on the digestive system I would practice explaining it to myself
on how it works from start to finish, and studying a list of its parts. Which
memory tricks work best and does cramming help?
The registrar’s
office sent me a letter stating that my grade point average of D would have to
be raised to a C- or better in order to continue attending the University, and
to top it off all the dental schools at that time required a 3.5 grade point
average. What a dilemma, there I am sitting with a 1.8 average, and additionally
I was out of work and couldn't find a job.
Being
persistent, I deiced to enrolled the following quarter at the U, but enrolled
for just two easy classes plus a couple of classes for no credits. I thought a
light schedule would make it easy for me to raise my average grades. But, I ended up with only a 2.4 average and
only 8 credited hours. That wasn’t going to cut it; at that rate I'd be an old
man by the time I made 3.5 average. I was at least smart enough to realize
that.
What to do?
I decided to take a year off at the U of U,
and subsequently entered BYU, as a freshman. I took a heavy class schedule, 21
credit hours with solid classes for two semesters. I bought test-prep books and
subjected myself to a relentless and repetitive series of college entrance
exams. I took them over and over again, until it became aggravating. Then in
the fall I went back to the U of U and enrolled in the same classes I had taken
at the Y. All that persistence paid off. Now 26, I was accepted at Loyola Univ.
a dream come true since the $100.00 day.
I
didn’t mention to the Loyola admissions office I had attended the Y. I wrote that I merely got off to a slow start
but now with a 3.8 average, I expected to be one of best students in the class
of ’63.
On the creative
part of this story, I didn’t get close to the refrigerator, not even in my
first year, I
mean the big one that many graduate students get locked
into. I mean the brain-gang students that are hopelessly educated to the point
of becoming frozen intellectuals. Once frozen they never a thaw, they
just float around the Republic. I had no intention of being
a brain-frozen ice cube floating through life’s seas. Don’t get me wrong, I
think being a brainy college graduate is great, they are well accepted in society. However, not always following the crowd is
even better and more rewarding. I hope to be an educated man, with a high grade
point average sure, but at the same time, not being in one of those GE
refrigerators; mortgaged, body, mind and spirit, while holding on tight to a
frozen rigid sheep skin for dear life, with no plans to come busting out of the
fridge door. I’ll not be a contented sheep going over the cliff with the herd.
It’s been a cold year and that is not good if you’re locked in.
Finally, in my
second semester Junior year I scored highest in clinical points in my class.
But taking
tests still felt like hard work. However, seeing slow steady increases in my
scores boosted my confidence. Practice tests also helped with test-taking
skills, such as pacing. Sleep, I found plays a role in test performance. I would
review the toughest material right before going to bed the night before the
test which made it easier to recall the material later. I found not to wake up
earlier than usual to study as it could interfere with the rapid-eye-movement
sleep which aids memory.
What’s changed
in forty seven years since I graduated from Loyola? Not much. At the graduating
class in 2000, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION the commencement address was given by:
Thomas J. Dart (JD’87), Cook County sheriff Quote: “Far too many times in our
history, things were done because that’s the way they were always done. Or
because that’s what someone was told to do. But what it that way is wrong---or causing
an injustice? That’s when it’s up to someone to stand up and say, ‘Wait. This
isn’t right.’ And as I look out into this audience today. I ask you: Which
voice will you be?”
Dr. KARL WALLACE D.D.S.
