Why 'Park Place' may ruin your academic career...

There are two things that you should know about me: 1) I love board games; and 2) I am competitive.

For many years, board games were banned in my house because I was simply incapable of playing for fun. I would focus on getting Park Place (the most valuable property in the game)* and ignore the rest of the board. When I lost, I would throw a tantrum. In one memorable game of Monopoly, my best friend's 6-year old brother was allowed back into the game only after he sold me his pokemon watch for $500 MP (monopoly dollars). I eventually gave it back to him 3 days later but, at the time, I thought he should learn "the value of a hard earned dollar." I was 13 at the time. Figure 1. "Mr. Monopoly, or prior to the year 2000,

"Uncle Rich Moneybags."

As far back I can remember, I have been very competitive person. Growing up, I was the kid who played sports and, unfortunately, also the kid who cried or threw temper tantrums after losing a game.

Thankfully, by the time I arrived at Trent, I had learned to control this type of behavior.I could laugh at others mistakes, says "good effort," and 8 times out 10 actually mean it. In a true display of progress, I made a conscious decision not to play competitive sports in my first year at Trent. I thought that it would be better for me both physically and emotionally to put more time into my school work for a year or two. I was surprised to find out that, despite not playing sports, my competitiveness remained in tact. It did not peter out but simply took a new form instead. Rather unexpectedly, school became my new sport.

Throughout high school, my grades were average or even slightly below average. I relished the opportunity for a fresh start at Trent and decided that I was going to be the best student that the university had ever seen. I started of by buying all the necessary supplies. If I was going to do well in school, I was going to need to take notes--lots of notes. This meant buying pens, paper, a date stamp for my notes (writing the date wastes valuable time), and a ruler for underlying titles and subheadings. 90 pens, 1 ruler, 1 date stamp, and 8,000 sheets of paper later, I was ready.

I started the year off by attending every lecture, reading every sentence of every assigned reading, taking extensive notes, and even forming study groups. I was going to be the best student that Trent University had ever seen. My first ever paper in university received a B- (72%). I was devastated. Surely, I thought, all the note taking and studying that I was doing must be--at the very least--worth a 90. I thought quite seriously about confronting the professor about my grade. If it had been a soccer game, I would have gone in for the slide tackle. I was angry. I decided instead to see how my other grades played out. Grades from my other first assignments came back: 80%, 83%, 81%, 84%. Clearly, 1 of my 5 professors was insane. I became fixated on the 72.

I worked day and night on my next assignment for the class. On the day that we were getting the assignment back I did not hear a single word that was being said in seminar. I just wanted the paper. I just wanted validation. With seminar finally over, I ran outside and quickly flipped to the back cover. No time to read, I just want the number. My eyes scanned for symbols that weren't letters and settled upon a grade of 70%. All my hard work had yielded even lesser results. My head sunk into my shoulders. I was both sad and angry. What was I doing wrong? Why couldn't I do as well in English 100 as all my other courses?

I went home, read the professors' feedback, and thought about it. I did agree with him. I met with the him and asked "what am I doing wrong?" He made it very clear that I wasn't doing anything incorrectly, but that there were simply areas that need to be improved. I didn't understand at the time what separated "doing something incorrectly" from "needing improvement." It felt like he was playing games with me. No matter how he wanted to spin it, I was not achieving at the level that I wanted to. Over the course of the year I grew to resent English 100 and made little improvement. I was convinced that the professor had something personal against me.

In hindsight, I feel silly. I can't believe how entitled I felt to certain grades and how self-absorbed I was. Occasionally, I look back at old essays and I simply laugh. The Shakespeare-esque prose that I thought I had written now seems kind of terrible to be honest. As a teaching assistant, I can now confidently say that my first papers were in fact B- worthy papers. Further, by focusing on the grade and not the feedback I did not grow very much as a writer.

Now, if this were a Disney movie, things would end here and we would all run away into happily ever after all-the-wiser because of what I've just shared. However, this is not a movie and, to be certain, I still struggle with feelings of insecurity and inadequacy with my school work. In fact, the pendulum has kind of swung in the other direction now. Whereas I came out of high-school lacking confidence and overcompensated by working long hours and thinking that I was the greatest student ever, throughout my Master's degree I struggled with not feeling that I was not as good as my peers. Despite doing fairly well in school, I often feel that I'm not living up to expectations.

As I prepare to begin my Ph.D., I am constantly reminding myself that writing essays (something that I struggle with even now) is a craft. It takes lots of hard work and many 'failed' attempts. Although I still get disappointed when I don't do as well as I would like, I now read the feedback that I receive carefully and consciously work towards slowly and steadily improving myself and my work. I try really hard to remember that academia is not so much an issue of doing things wrong as it is learning to do things correctly, learning to improve.

In Monopoly, you should not focus all your energy on Park Place. There are many other properties (such as railroads, utilities, and the Yellow and Red Avenues) that are worthwhile and will help you succeed. For me, this has meant balancing my new-found academic focus with Champlain college events such as Harvest Weekend, learning to play Broomball, getting involved with Cabinet, and drumming.

I may be slightly biased, but I think that you are extremely lucky to be at Champlain College. Regardless of where you are at, don't be discouraged if you trip and fall a few times. I did it many, many times throughout my time at Trent and it's a learning process. Get involved in whatever way best suits you and try stay balanced.

Cheers,
Phill

*In terms of property value, Park Place($350) is slightly less than Boardwalk ($400) thus making it the second most valuable property. However, statistically, Park Place is landed on more frequently than Boardwalk thus offsetting the $50 difference in property value making Park Place of equal--if not greater--value in the game.