Much to my chagrin, I must confess that, of late, I fear I have joined the ranks of the insufferable know-it-alls. You know, those people who have an annoying tendency to speak up too much in class; who display an exasperating penchant for expostulating at the slightest hint of a dissenting opinion; and who usurp the attention of the professor to such a degree that it seems as though a one-on-one conversation is taking place to the exclusion of the rest of the class?

However, upon further contemplation, it occurred to me that despite my reluctance to self-identify as an overzealous pupil, perhaps being counted among the faction of insufferable know-it-alls isn’t such a bad thing. I say this because it is through the process of dialogue that we learn to situate ourselves in the world; it is how we relate to one another and make sense of things. So, while some people may view my enthusiasm as an annoying “teacher’s pet” tendency, I have come to view the hunger for knowledge and insatiable curiosity that seems to have taken over me this semester in a positive light.

In a sense, it serves as an indication that I am finally nurturing a desire to learn for the sake of learning rather than for the sake of simply earning a good grade.

Of course, it’s true that maintaining a high GPA is important for reasons such as applying for scholarships, getting into good graduate or professional schools, and the like. But just think back to the good old fashioned passion of youthful inquisitiveness that used to drive most of us way back in elementary school — way before we started buying into the silly notion that our knowledge could somehow be measured by or reduced to a mere letter grade printed on a report card.

What happened to that passion? I don’t claim to know. What I do know is that after I took the time to truly reflect upon what exactly I’ve learned during my undergraduate career at UK, I was faced with a profound realization: although I can only recall a fraction of the things I felt I was forced to learn over the years, I can’t seem to forget the things I had a desire to learn.

So, maybe the waning passion of youthful inquisitiveness I succumbed to wasn’t necessarily prompted by a preference or dislike for the subject I was learning at the time, but by the outlook I adopted towards learning in general. By nature, we are inquisitive beings; so, in theory, our desire to learn shouldn’t necessarily be diminished by whatever the subject matter happens to be, unless of course we allow it. If only I hadn’t waited until the last semester of my senior year of college to figure that out.

In my defense, it is only since becoming a senior that I have had the option of taking classes pass/fail and, therefore, the luxury of worrying less about grades and caring more about the quality of the education I take the initiative to receive.

Nevertheless, I’d like to share a pearl of wisdom with all you underclassmen who still have time to potentially benefit from a lesson I learned relatively late in the game: Don’t allow your formal education to interfere with your (love of) learning. And don’t be afraid to join the insufferable know-it-alls club — we really don’t think we know it all.

However, if time permitted and some omniscient power had it within them to teach all there is to know, we’d probably be among the first in line to learn.