MARGINAL UTILITY OF EFFORT:
I got an e-mail from Prof. Sears (whose grad art history seminar I took this term) with some brief comments on my term paper. She noted that while my paper was good, she felt that I had not drawn out all my conclusions fully, nor had I really framed the questions involved as well as I could.
However, I also got an A in the class.
So what I've been mulling over all day is this: clearly, there was no room for my grade to improve, no matter how much more work I had done on my paper. Sure, I would've gotten the satisfaction of having gone all-out in a scholarly way (which would mean a lot to a nerd such as myself), but in light of my other responsibilities, I did the minimum necessary to get the grade I wanted. This, my friends will tell you, fits in with my general pattern.
So, is it ever in your interest to do more than you have to do for a class? Does this change once you get to grad school?
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
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