Until recently, I saw Northwestern as a competitive landscape where students worked only for their best interests and saw the college experience as a race to the top. I had also cultivated a negative perspective concerning my classmates. I saw the students in my classes as unreliable and unhelpful rather than people to reach out to if I was struggling with a concept or problem. I believed I worked better by myself and I would get my homework or project done the right way if I did it alone. I used to pride myself on this trait because I equated my individualistic way of thinking with self-sufficiency.

I had no clue this way of thinking is incredibly toxic.

For one, group collaboration is so important because it allows you to share ideas in different ways — ways that may cater better to how you personally learn. Some students learn better visually, others through listening and others by doing. Your professor might teach you one way to learn a concept when there are many ways to learn that same subject. Students supplement the learning process by demonstrating how to rethink the material taught in class to make the information easier to understand.

Think about things you’ve learned throughout your life like writing, riding a bicycle, driving a car or calculating equations. Most of these things were not self-taught, but required someone to teach you. And although not everyone in your course may understand all of the material taught, you can use different classmates to “fill in the gaps” where you need the most help.

To be fair, there is a merit in learning material on your own. Obviously people don’t learn the material for you, because the bulk of the learning process requires you to put in the effort for learning the material. Also, when you work a problem out by yourself, it’s OK to be proud of the fact you were able to do most of the legwork on your own. However, learning is not solely a do-it-yourself event nor is it an excuse to rely completely on your peers. Learning requires a good balance between the two.

Let’s also not forget that we need to see ourselves as resources for other students as well. Just as we should reach out to students when we need help, we should also provide the same kind of time, patience and assistance other students have offered us. Not only do we help others, but we can also help ourselves. When we practice explaining ideas to someone else, it also helps us exercise our own comprehension skills and indicates if we understand the subject as well as we think we do.

Most importantly, we are not competing among one another. Even though NU and other colleges sometimes foster this competitive atmosphere through curved classes, the difference you make helping one student is not enough to drastically affect a class’ curve. More importantly, college is not a zero sum game where only some people succeed and some lose it all — we succeed together when we work together. This can only be accomplished if we rethink the way we see our peers.

With Reading Period and finals just around the corner, I encourage you to reset the way you see your classmates and peers. We were not meant to be self-learning robots who refuse to ask for help. We need each other and we can only succeed if we reach out to others when we need it, and at the same, we need to be an open channel for students we see struggling in their classes.

Caroline Vakil is a Medill sophomore. She can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. 

The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.