Features
Professor extolls positive attitude
By James Fitzroy
"The determined student will
look for more work in order to
understand; the student who
wants only to get his piece of
paper thinking of it as a passport
to prosperity generally complains
about the workload," said Assis
tant Professor of Computer Ap
plications Dr. Mehdi
Khosrowpour recently.
The professor seems genuinely
concerned about what he sees as
an overall lack of committment
by students to the learning ex
perience available here at Capitol
Campus.
He said that in his experience
as a student and as an educator,
"everywhere I've been I've found
a core of complainers who don't
see that their trouble is in their
attitude. They choose to blame
factors outside themselves--
teachers, workload, adminis
trators, what have you. All of
this is just an excuse to escape
personal responsibility for one's
success or failure."
Khosrowpour is a man who
cannot accept or understand a
negative attitude. "Challenge is
what life should be built
around," he said.
He described the experience of
a friend who studied computer
programming at a university in
Tehran as an example.
"The course assignment, of
course, required the writing of
programs. Simple enough, except
the school had no computer
equipment to test the program
on. The students themselves then
became the computers. By minute
examination, they found their er
rors and corrected them."
This friend of Khosrowpour's
had no problem integrating what
he learned in this manner with ac
tual equipment when he emigrated
to America. Attitude and deter
mination to accomplish set goals
are what distinguishes the suc
cessful person, according to
Khosrowpour.
He said he has "no sympathy
for students who complain about
lack of equipment or inadequate
materials or excessive workload."
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He believes many students
make a mistake by comparing
themselves to others.
"This is a danger for the in
dividual. Other people may have
a talent in an area where you may
be weak and you may excel where
someone else is lost," he noted.
"Don't compare yourselves to
others. Look into yourself to
know your strengths and
weaknesses. Comparing is the
first step towards failure--it can
lead to self-dissappointment."
Khosrowpour's formula for
Dr. Mehdi Khosrowpour, Assistant Professor of Computer Applications
success is to adopt a positive at
titude, set specific, realistic goals,
and to then move towards them
"like a horse wearing blinders."
His conversation frequently
returns to his students and the at
tempts he has made to get his
philosophy across. His eyes reflect
his dismay because many do not
understand his emphasis on goal
setting. He feels that they are
missing "that tremendous
satisfaction of achievement" that
would spur them on to further
successes.
Khosrowpour likes to get to
know "the person within the stu
dent. I encourage them to come
Capitol Times Friday, March 16, 1984
to me with whatever might be
bothering them," he said, "not
only in their schoolwork.
Teaching, to me, is a seven-day-a
week job."
He is aware that he could be
earning substantially more work
ing in private industry but he
would miss the challange he finds
in the academic setting.
"I believe that educators are at
the cutting edge of society,
especially in the computer field,"
he pointed out.
"Innovation is necessary here. I
Photo b Jeffre G. Shatzer
would not have the opportunity
in the private sector that is
available to me as a teacher. In
dustry has a tendency to get static
when things are going well. I
wouldn't want to face the same
situations day after day. I prefer
the almost daily changes that oc
cur in the classroom."
This process is a two-way street
for Khosrowpour; it makes the
academic life even more in-
teresting for him. "Some days I
feel as if I'm benefitting more
than my students," he said, smil
ing. "The exchange of ideas, the
searching for answers sometimes
gives me insights into my field
that I couldn't get anywhere
else."
He is a man with an un
shakable belief in the power of
individual will. He knows that
personal determination directed at
a particular goal gets results.
"Attitude is everything," he said.
"Belief in one's abilities, yes, but
your basic attitude toward adver
sity is what will ensure success."
Khosrowpour himself is the
best example of the successful ap
plication of his kind of personal
Page 11
evaluation and self-motivation.
He came to the United States
knowing that he would have
obstacles to overcome before he
would attain the goals he had
already set for himself. He began
alone in a new country with little
command of the language and
less of an idea of the nature of
the culture he was becoming a
part of. Characteristically, he
wasted no time.
His student days were, for him,
a dual learning experience, he
said.
"I enjoyed learning about the
culture just as much as I did my
schoolwork," he emphasized.
"To me, this was a culture I
knew nothing about and here I
was living in it! I felt I had to
overcome what I perceived as a
resistance in myself. I think that a
mve to a new culture brings on
an automatic reaction of
resistance in a person. This
resistance to change is probably a
very common phenomenon."
"My approach," he explained,
"was to socialize with Americans,
people brought up in this society.
I saw when I first got to this
country that if I mixed only with
Iranians, I would be isolating
myself from the culture in which
I was going to be living for a
number of years. My American
friends helped me to discern the
major aspects of this culture more
readily."
"For anyone moving to a new
society, what matters is how one
manages that resistance. I think
it's a matter of treating the new
culture with respect for its own
traditions and habits,"
Khosrowpour continued.
"My attitude was that it was a
unique opportunity to learn
another language and experience
another culture that those born
here weren't able to have."
"What I'm saying is that one
has to be interested enough to
take the time to learn the finer
points of acceptable behavior in
order to appreciate and be ab
sorbed into the new culture. It's
hard, I know. It took me a few
months to get used to the idea
that in America, it's alright to
wear walking shorts in public. In
Teheran that is not acceptable
behavior."
He laughed and added, "And
if I go back to Teheran, I won't
dare to wear shorts.
"Going full circle, it comes
back to attitude," he said, "if
you don't have that positive at
titude in all aspects of your life,
you can make your own life
miserable. The constant working
towards the goal is what makes
life interesting."