Looking back on my University Days

Every time I look back on my university days, I always wonder and even ask myself what difference those days made to my personal life and more importantly to my academic life now that I have become a teacher. If I remember rightly, I was extremely enthusiastic about studying at university before coming to it. I was zealous about the language I majored in and was curious to make professors' acquaintance, for I had always thought they would help me reach my goal, the position of teacher and writer. These had in fact been my forethoughts at that time about which I feel completely dubious at the present.

Soon after I arrived in El Jadida where my university is, the first classes I attended became very decisive and formative for me. I immediately knew that I would enjoy those two years needed to become a teacher, but was not yet certain about the significance of my classes. As usual for any new university student, I was aloof towards my new classmates and never dared to befriend them until five or six weeks later. Apart from this, what really intrigued me most was to know about my professors.

In fact, I always belived in the idea that university teachers are very much well-versed in their fields and from whom any new student can learn a lot. Very unexpectedly, later on, I gave up this idea. However, as I attended my regular classes and of course very much appreciate most of my teachers, I gradually lost interest in classes though I never missed any. I could that instant discovered that most professors merely repeated the same courses and surprisingly even the same method of delivering them.

Of course, I do not have the right to accuse anyone of them as they might have other committments and preoccupations apart from teaching. But, what I later learned was that I had to assume responsibility for my own learning and should never expect anything from such sorts of professors. At least, I was happy if not lucky because I discovered this fact just in time, unlike some students for whom I feel sorry who trusted these teachers and forgot about their own role. I do not feel an aversion to these teachers for their apathy, but rather for the fact that they live in the ivory tower. It is a pity to know that they teach nothing and when they notice that any of their students is deservedly good, they either prejudge his good level in one way or another or they declare that he or she has become what they are because of their help.

As a matter of fact, I feel ashamed and disgusted to even recount these days, especially the indelible moments I spent with my classmates. When I was still a freshman and used to sit at the very front, my remarkable class participation was looked on as a way of showing off my competences in the language. Unfortunately, no one knew that I was not such a loquacious student. On the contrary, I was naturally taciturn and had it not been for those qualifying grades that I all the time strived for, I would never have indulged myself in this activity though this latter was of great help for its own sake.

By the time I became a sophomore, countless things had changed. I took to sitting at the very back and observed my teachers or just listened to them since I knew that class participation and my presence were no longer going to be taken into account. Some conventional people might not agree with me with regard to this behaviour, but it was a matter of enjoyment for me, most particularly when the teacher made some terrible mistakes. There, I always had the chance to keep a list of my teachers' msitakes, which I would not have done If I had sat at the very front. I never do so to make fun of my teachers, but rather to keep these mistakes and learn from them when I too became a teacher. Therefore, I should be on my guard against any intelligent and excellent student I might be teaching in the future.

Frankly speaking, there is only one thing I regret not doing when I was a university student, which I guess most students managed to do. It was that I missed knowing something about the opposite sex. Anyway, my university days made remarkably little difference on both my academic and personal life, but at least it were a mere means by which I have become what I am today.