Jos de Jess Estrada Buenrostro

A real student
How can we define a student? As generations pass, the concept of student has slowly been
depreciated to such grade that people simply define it as someone who goes to school, when it
should be any person who seeks for knowledge and personal growth. Following this idea, a genuine
student must have a great sense of initiative, be able to do research on his own if necessary, as well
as to develop his capacity of analysis to generate his own ideas, so that he can become an
independent thinker. The objective of this essay is to raise awareness and modify the way of thinking
of nowadays scholars. What is more, through this article the reader will realize that self-education
is a necessary step to be prepared and informed in topics that are interesting for them, but more
importantly, to change ones perspective, as an educational institution cannot provide us with all
the knowledge we expect and need. However, the whole idea of this paper is achieved by
demonstrating that most university students are not able to develop their thoughts, thus I will
include the percentage of college graduates who did not do a research project or a thesis, which is
a shocking truth.
To begin with, it is necessary to define what a student is, according to Confucius "He who learns
but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger." (Confucius, Analects
of Confucius, 2.15, 475 BC). Which means that a student is someone who is aware of everything that
is going on during his learning process. This statement is totally different of the common idea, as
the majority of people believe that just by attending to school you are more than prepared to deal
with any problem you face. Nevertheless, we can clearly see the consequences of this when former
students cannot find a proper job due to ineptitude.
Secondly, do not expect to be taught everything you need in school, especially when the
resources for public education are particularly low, which by consequence generate poor quality
educational programs. The CEFP in Mexico confirms that The budget allocated to education in
Mexico ascends to 305,057 million pesos. (CEFP, 2015). The point here is that the scholar cannot
rely only on the mediocre contents seen at class, he has to develop a sense of initiative and assess
himself through self-directed learning whenever is possible, by doing this he increases his level of
knowledge without waiting to be tutored or taught at school.
Finally, Jos Manuel Orozco Garibay reports that Only 5% of the graduates at ITAM generate
projects and thesis of quality. (Garibay, 2013). According to that fact, students are either
discouraged or are not able to do unique research projects to show their academic abilities that they
should have polished during their studies. This statement is reinforced by the fact that universities
offer a wide range of ways to graduate without a thesis, so the larger part chooses not to do it.
In conclusion, government institutions seem to activate a chain reaction effect that affect
students by not giving them education of quality, however, it is the duty of a real student to be
autonomous and carry on questioning their environment objectively no matter the conditions, for
the status of student deserves more respect.

Jos de Jess Estrada Buenrostro

Resources:
-Confucius. (475 BC). Analects of Confucius. 2.15.
-Qu tanto asegura un ttulo universitario t xito profesional? (2013):
http://www.altonivel.com.mx/34491-el-titulo-universitario-que-tanto-asegura-tu-exitoprofesional.html
-Presupuesto de Egresos de la Federacin 2015 Recursos Asignados al Ramo 11 Educacin:
http://www.cefp.gob.mx/publicaciones/nota/2015/marzo/notacefp0102015.pdf