What is my Educational Responsibility?

          "Education is not something you're given, but something you must steal." 

-Andy Rutledge Design Professionalism: Preparation for Professionalism

Going through school I have learned a lot of things, but probably the most important thing I've learned is that first quote from Andy Rutledge. If all we are doing at school is simply getting a diploma we are wasting our time. I have been guilty of this myself a few times. I have always known it is important to go to college and get a degree. But the longer I have been in school the more I've learned that it is more than just getting to graduation. The teachers can only teach us the tip of the iceberg, it is our responsibility to discover the rest.

We have all had those assignments where we moan and groan over having to do it but if we step back and take in the whole picture there is more to the assignment then just busy work. An easy example is writing blog posts for our readings. Sure, our teacher wants us to read the readings and this is an easy way to track that we actually did it, but there is more to it. He wants us to be able to write and be able to write well. The purpose of this blog is for future employers to be able to come and look at it and see our work as well as our writing abilities. We may be designers but like every profession you need to be able to communicate verbally and in writing. 

So I guess to answer my question, "what is my educational responsibility?", my responsibility is to take more out of school then just what is taught in the classroom. We can all make excuses for having too much going on and being to busy but that will just hurt ourselves. We have to compete with other students who are going the extra mile when we start looking for a job and when we are working in the industry.