Every morning teenagers all over the country wake up and get ready to begin their day as a student. Like most things in life you can choose to do them on your own or with the help of others. This concept may now be applied to the way you choose to learn. There are two choices, self-directed learning or traditional school, Mary Ward or Francis Libermann. Both schools have their pros and cons, traditional school gives you structure and schedule while self-directed learning allows students independence and the maturity to take full responsibility for all their actions and decisions.
In each one of the schools there is ample room for success as well as for failure. At a traditional school there are homework checks. For example, the night before an entire chapter of Law is due many of my fellow classmate's rush through it, skimming each paragraph for the correct answer to the question. When these seems as too much work, gibberish is written or even the headings of the last chapter is changed to appear as though the new one has been completed. At a self-directed school all the questions are typed in the unit or must be answered on lined paper and stapled to the back of the guide. Your teachers, who then assigns a mark based on completeness and depth of your answers, read the questions. Knowing that someone is going to evaluate your work makes you want to do it better. In order to do it better you must thoroughly read the materials and understand the concepts involved. Having eight courses in an intermediate grade can cause for many hours of homework. In a traditional school you may just have a chemistry test, an English Writers Craft essay due and a chapter of Law all due the next day. That night you arrived home at 7 because of driving school and by this point you wish that you could have seen far enough into the future to be prepared for the load you would be receiving. The chances of getting all those things done, and done well are pretty slim if you plan on staying awake for the following days classes.