It’s summer, and we understand that your priorities might be more aligned with attending barbeques with friends rather than learning about burnt offerings made in the ancient world. However, if you’re a serious student in pursuit of a degree (and you’ve always been curious about the history of barbeque) you might want to consider spending July and August at least in the partial shade of a Core Humanities classroom... especially if all that’s standing between you and your academic goals.
If you think that’s crazy (why study ancient Sumerian culture when you could enjoy plain old summer?) we have three reasons why taking a Core Humanities class in the summer is a win-win for just about everybody:
- Write better papers. If you struggle with writing academic papers, Core Humanities is just the ticket for you. Why? Science has shown that when you study difficult texts, you are forced to read them critically, and when you read them critically, you are able to write concise, analytical papers with ease. This kind of reading helps to build your skills by 1) introducing you to new ideas, 2) making your vocabulary grow and 3) helping you to break ideas down into separate parts, making them easier to analyze. Under the guidance of a skilled instructor, we guarantee that you will see vast improvements in your writing as you read texts from hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
- Learn how to manage your own time. If you take an online course, you don’t have the obligation of physically sitting in class on certain days and at certain times. Managing your own schedule—when you listen to lectures, when you complete the course readings, and other associated tasks—helps you to develop and hone self-discipline and your ability to keep to a schedule that works for you. This is a valuable skill that is useful in several professional careers— and it’s a handy skill to have in your personal life, too. Not sure what schedule works for you? Taking an online class this summer can give you the opportunity to discover if you do your best studying in the early morning with a cup of coffee, or if the midnight hour is the time to read your Hesiod, Dante or Thoreau.
- Cross-train your brain. Have you ever heard the saying “use it or lose it”? This applies not only to your six-pack abs, but also to your mind’s ability to encounter intellectually challenging material and to retain it—skills that are useful when you’re pursuing a college degree. Just like physical fitness, mental fitness fades the less you use it. So, if you’re dedicated to showing up fit—and not flabby—this fall, one of the best ways to keep in shape is to enroll in your mind’s version of a bootcamp: Core Humanities! Tackle heavyweight ideas for five weeks for hours at a time and we guarantee that normal hour-long classes will feel like a breeze next semester.
If those aren’t reasons enough, studying Core Humanities at TMCC has its perks, too, including: smaller class sizes and access to all TMCC’s academic support services (like the Tutoring and Learning Center) that can help you through these classes that, if you plan on continuing your education at UNR, you’ll need to complete anyway. There’s still plenty of time to register: second session classes start on July 8.
And, who knows? Maybe you’ll start to see connections between the past, present, and future as you become a culturally literate citizen in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Or, at least you’ll have something interesting to say the next time you attend a family barbeque.
For more information about Core Humanities, contact the department at 775-674-7945.