Learning for the grade. Learning for the degree. Learning to get a job.

What ever happened to learning for the sake of learning?

Last Friday, I accompanied my roommate to see the  dance department’s production of “February Dance.” My roommate was required to see the performance for a dance class. Other students and community and faculty members surrounded us. Even Chancellor Phyllis Wise was there.

Near us, I overheard one student telling his friends how he didn’t want to be at the performance but had to be there for a class.

Continuing to be nosy, I then heard behind us an older individual, whom I presumed to be a faculty member, comment on the student’s attitude to the man beside him.

He basically said students don’t learn for the sake of learning anymore. Many do the minimum to get the grade and forgo any opportunity to learn things for fun.

Instead of embracing the opportunity to expose themselves to the world of contemporary dance, many students saw the requirement as a burden.

Maybe some students are simply not interested in dance and are just there to complete a general education requirement. Instead, they delve into their own major with rigor and eagerness because that truly interests them.

While this may have some basis in fact, it misses the mark. So many times I have heard students in my major, news-editorial journalism, tell others that the readings in their journalism classes are not necessary because the content is not on the test. “Honestly, it’s a waste of your time.” I can count how many times I’ve heard that on, well, more than 10 fingers and 10 toes.

What is happening to us?

Yes, college is a time to have fun, and sometimes our studies hinder that, but it’s also supposed to be a hotbed of ideas and inspiration. After all, students chose to continue their education at the collegiate level because they like learning, right?

All sarcasm aside, supplemental information shouldn’t have to be a waste of our time.

Students tend to start out semesters fresh, anxious for new classes to start. But as the weeks wear on, students get tired. It’s much more difficult to comprehend that chapter of Spanish in March than it was in January. The semester always gets busier as it goes by, and students may not have as much time to focus on every part of their studies.

But do these things mean that learning has to be deadweight on our shoulders?

Many times, when we are in the middle of “learning” we tend to be caught up in the “stupidities” of an assignment or the professor’s high expectations.

But when we step back and look at the big picture, we realize we learned something. And it was kind of cool.

Think back to a class you had last semester. Think about what you learned in it. Before you auto-reply “nothing,” think about what you knew about that topic before you took that class. You really did learn something, didn’t you?

Sometimes we get a great sense of satisfaction when the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon occurs: You learn something and then suddenly start hearing that name, word or concept repeatedly. Those moments make us love learning.

But we shouldn’t only enjoy learning when we experience this phenomenon. We need to enjoy learning in the moment.

Sure, some topics are going to interest you more than others. But don’t close yourself off to learning about something you don’t know if you like it yet.

It all boils down to one concept: intellectual curiosity.

Maybe you’re reading an article online and, because you’re interested in the content, you keep clicking on the hyperlinks to find out more.

Maybe you see a poster hanging in the Armory about a renowned professor from another university visiting campus and decide to attend the lecture.

Maybe you wander into the Spurlock Museum in Urbana and spend an afternoon browsing its exhibits.

If you’ve got intellectual curiosity, don’t let it go. But many of us could work on our voracity of learning. This world is a lot larger than a Facebook feed or a Saturday night out.

Get out there and learn.

Kirsten is a sophomore in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].