For many students at N.C. State, especially those in engineering, three to four hours of homework a day — or more — is not unusual. I have heard complaints and seen students toil and fret over hours of Maple and WebAssign. Students need the practice, but what about a different kind of approach? Whatever happened to reading books? We have an incredible library open and available to us; why not use it?

If you’re like me, you need a little motivation to read textbooks about your major. I get so bogged down in homework, classes and work that I simply do not have time to leisurely rock on the front porch and pick up a book. Thankfully, college is a time of development into an educated adult. As students, we are expected to be fickle and make changes to our career decisions sometimes over and over again. When we first begin college, we have so many things to think about, sometimes we miss the obvious. Learning about your career may be one of them.

It may sound a bit strange, but rarely do I see books assigned about what you are actually doing. For example, if you are an engineer, you are jumping headlong into a world of calculus and differential equations. Of course, you need to learn these subjects to be an engineer, but what about reading a book about your major — what you say you want to spend the rest of your career doing. If it sounds impractical, consider this: why not read a book by a famous engineer who designed an amazing contraption and study his ways of going about it?

For humanities majors, we get a little more help in this category. We are probably taking English classes that assign readings about the subject we are taking. The point I am making is, if we get caught up in all the other homework and get no time to actually sit down and read, we are missing a large and essential part of our education.

I remember even in elementary school the requirements of reading a book were well thought out. There were computer tests called “AR” or “Accelerated Reader” tests that we were required to take once we finished a book. Every two weeks the teacher would take us to the library to choose a book and we were asked to finish it within a two week span. This part of my developing education was probably one of the most essential and beneficial aspects of it, however simple it may seem. In some ways, I miss the motivation and the ability to have that routine as a part of my school day.

Technically, we should not have to have a teacher assign us reading. Some could say that it is something that is our responsibility — which is true. But getting some recommendations would certainly help. So next time you see your professor or advisor, why not ask them for a couple recommendations for reading about your major? Even if it takes you a while to get around to it, you could still benefit eventually from learning about your career, especially if you are unsure. You never know what you may find out.