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During the summer before my first year at Saint John's University, I needed to decide what classes I was going to take in the fall. I had already been taking Greek with other members of my church (taught by our pastor), so I signed up for the first semester of New Testament Greek. I had been invited to participate in the honors program, so I chose a U.S. history class after looking at the choices. Since I was considering a career in engineering (as a good marriage between mathematics and science), I knew that I needed to take Calculus I and Physics I. These were the four courses that I then signed up and took in the fall of 1976.
I don't recall the exact details, but either on the first day of my Physics class or in a short meeting before that first day, a description was given about an alternate way of taking that Physics I course. Roughly, what I heard was that I had a choice between attending class and taking periodic exams as is normal for classes, or the other choice was to read the text on our own, not come to class, and take more frequent tests over the same concepts. My first reaction was "Not come to class! What is there not to like about that?" I talked to some students who were involved in helping with this second approach, and then I quickly decided to sign up. Surely, this choice would make this course easier since I would be saving lots of time.
It took me a few years before I learned not to make decisions like this so quickly. I had to learn to incorporate this verse into my framework for making decisions: Luke 14:28 -- "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" I hadn't really counted the cost. Yes, I had extra time available by not going to class, but I needed to be responsible to learn all the content that I missed by not attending class. How did I learn this content? I read the text. And read it again. And again. I remember one chapter (our tests were always over one chapter, so that gave me a focus) where I read it seven times before I felt that I understood it. To be fair, there were also older students who had done this program before that were available for questions.
There are two questions that I would like to end with: 1. Was this a good decision? 2. Was this a good decision process? I will answer these in reverse. My answer for the second has already been hinted at above, to the negative. Indeed, no. My answer to the first question is a resounding YES. Why? While I certainly did spend a lot of time reading my text (and asking questions of the older physics majors), I learned a lot from making this decision. I began the process of learning how to read difficult material, to read it carefully, to read it with understanding, and to know when my task was complete.
Just as medicines sometimes have side effects (sometimes called "adverse reactions"), and just as computer programs sometimes have side effects (sometimes called "bugs"), my decision to take Physics I in this fashion also had side effects. Gaining these skills in reading paid off well in the rest of my undergraduate classes, as well as in my graduate work. (I recall some days in my second year of graduate work, when reading a book, I would be happy if I was able to read and understand four pages during the whole day.) Another benefit to this approach was that we had more frequent tests over smaller sections, which was helpful. My advice: learn how to read carefully, but maybe also take the class from the professor. However, I have no regrets about the choice that I made. The positive outcomes certainly outweighed the extra time that was needed. One of Marcia's questions asked during cancer battle was "Is the pain worth the gain?" For me, choosing this alternate physics course, the answer was a definite YES.
Published 2026-02-04.
If you find any errors in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail.com. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]
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