Take an active role in understanding

There is a phrase that everyone has uttered at least once: “I don’t understand this.”

Be it students or faculty, it’s a common frustration that we all face. From the professor who has assigned a seemingly pointless assignment, to the dean or department chair who has asked to measure the immeasurable, most of the tasks that keep this institutional machine running are not easily understood.

Beyond the frustration of being in a position where we don’t understand, we rarely stop and take an active role in our own ability to understand.

For example, when we feel someone is being harsh or callous to our needs, we say that person is “not being very understanding.” That statement might seem trivial, but there’s a lot of meaning packed into it.

We are quick to play the victim in these situations, but I can only protest that as the recipient of a cold shoulder you are not free from fault. You have just as much responsibility to make yourself  be understood as the other person has to understand you.

Another expression pops up when we fail to understand or be understood; “this is all a misunderstanding.”

An endearing testament to this statement is the name of the Kangaroo. The first british explorers to settle Australia asked the Aboriginies, “What is that animal?,” to which the Aboriginies responded “Kangaroo,” which means “I don’t understand.”

A quote from the prison warden in the movie “Cool Hand Luke,” sums it up nicely, “What we have here… is a failure to communicate.”

Communication takes more than just yourself, and unless you are gifted with split personalities, you can hardly entertain a conversation alone. Granted there aren’t always two sides to a given argument, but there is always more than one.

So how do we communicate?

We are raised to communicate so asksing that question might seem unnecessary, but I’ve heard from people in all departments that communication on this campus sucks.

That’s pretty ironic when we look at the fact that we are saturated with communication mediums: phones, email, text messages, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and numerous other digital platforms.

But with all these means, the first step I recommend we take when communicating is to actively listen. When you are sitting in a class or a meeting, you should devote your attention to the business at hand. Time is your currency, and you need to spend it as wisely as possible.

I know how hard it is to pay attention when the speaker has a stutter, a thick accent, or drones on in a monotone.  Sometimes what they have to say just doesn’t interest you, but that’s life.

There is no promise that everything we do will be interesting, and the sooner we accept that, the better. But it’s at those times when we aren’t interested that we have to be vigilant in listening and resist the urge to segue into the world of our smart-phones.

You don’t have to focus on everything that is being said when you take notes, because you will be more concerned with transcribing what is being said rather than listening. When you take notes, you should write down things that you don’t understand. This will come in handy for later, and frees you up to listen to whatever else is being said.

The next step is to skim over those notes and… (pause to introduce a novel concept): ask questions!

According to a recent story published by National Public Radio, Dutch linguists have discovered that the phrase “huh?,” is found in almost every language on the planet. It makes sense then, that a universal question would be key to our ability to understand.

To me, there’s more value to a question than an answer. You don’t know something or you don’t understand something; you ask a question. When we have no questions, the speaker has done their job and communicated in a way that you can understand. Either that, or you weren’t listening.

In the event that you do understand something, resist the urge to be irritated by another person asking questions. That person is brave enough to admit that they don’t understand, and that’s a brand of courage that is to be lauded, not shamed.

The inquisitor might not have grasped what you’ve understood, but you can still listen to the questions that they are asking and the response they are given.

You might find something that challenges your assumptions, and that helps you build a deeper understanding of the information that’s being presented.

Similarly, if you ask a question that you think you already know the answer to, resist the urge to interrupt and inject your explanation.

Sit and paitiently listen to the answer, and if it disproves what you had thought to be correct, fight off the urge to be upset. If you feel you still don’t understand, ask another question. It takes time and discipline to listen, to question, and to understand, but it will pay off.

If you doubt what I’m saying, look to Proverbs 15:32, “If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.”

We are often told two things about the reasons we go to college: “A degree doesn’t demonstrate knowledge, but the discipline it took to earn it,” and, “Employers look for graduates who have strong communication skills.”

If you want to make use of your time at CSC and get the most out of your education, work to hone your ability to communicate, listen, question, and most importantly: understand.