by Jo Ann Rangel

Created on: November 19, 2008

Cliff Notes is the cram method of choice for those who do not have the time or inclination to properly learn the nuances of a work of literature. There is a good argument for saying using the squeamish little contextual blurbs in place of genuine reading for reflection and understanding undermines the role of expanding one's mind in the atmosphere of academia. In short, you're throwing out good money after bad in getting a sound education.

The whole idea of going to school is to become a well rounded individual at the intellectual level so that you hopefully can function at an intellectual level in the real world. When you rely on the authority of a summary without investigating the agenda of your guide, the process of accomplishing this is severely impaired when you are unable to retrieve the facts from the proverbial horses' mouth of a work of literature to hone your thinking skills.

Part of the growth that takes place during your education has a lot to do with how you find your own conclusions and beliefs that in the end help shape you as a person. This may sound like a tall order to expect from Mary Shelley or Mark Twain, but this is why they call it "the Humanities" and not "the Wall." You may get the main points of "Pride and Prejudice," but it's a bit of a letdown to get a summary about how Mr. Bennett contributed to his own foolish circumstances of having an equally foolish wife when your mind would have shared an "aha" moment and a laugh at discovering it beneath the meaning of the words.

How will you ever understand the contextual raving of Stanley Fish when he stares you down from the rooftops of the self-actualization universe screaming directly in your face to ask "Is there a Text in This Class?" if you only get to see the highlights according to "Cliff" of what surrounds the text and never take into consideration who are the ones teaching you and what is it they are trying to get you to expand about to stretch those dormant actualization muscles that represent complacence in accepting what you are told. You are cheating your brain out of substance. Even if you can't stand what you are reading, you are forming an opinion based on what you are seeing for yourself and can happily and honestly challenge the instructor's point of view in the spirit of Socrates all to your gleeful content. For thirty grand a year you bet your sweet pattootie I am not going to spend all that time to memorize a one line chapter plot out of fear I won't know the difference

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>