Striving+for+Accuracy+and+Precision

=Striving for Accuracy and Precision=

"A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake." -Confucius

Confucius's words strikes true. Precision and accuracy come a long way to help someone perform better, whether in terms of academically and life. That's why it's part of "behaving intelligently"

While I would never dare say that I've become pro at it (or even that I "behave intelligently"), I've at least tried to improve myself. I've always been a sloppy person. My priority has always been to get the thing done AFAP (as fast as possible), disregarding any potential errors I could make. In the past, this has not generally been a problem, because my former teachers give completion grades and not "accuracy" grades. However, my first homework assignment revealed to me the error of my ways. It was done quickly and sloppily, firstly because I usually do my homework in the fastest way possible, and secondly because I found it mostly review and therefore did not invest much effort in it. Therefore, I didn't realize how many transcribing errors I made. Even Mrs. Knowles caught my copying error. Below is a picture of that homework assignment:

Figure 1: A poorly-done homework assignment.

Had I not been so careless, I wouldn't have done so poorly on the homework assignment. Getting that extra 2 points would've only taken me a few seconds--I merely just had to look at the question again and make sure I copied correctly. There's nothing special, nothing difficult about it. Thankfully, I've learned to be careful and on the next next homework assignment, I finally earned the elusive 10 out of 10. (Disclaimer: While I wholeheartedly understand and believe that grades should not be an absolute measurement of our achievement, in this case, it provided a relative scale for me to compare to.)

While some might say it's just ONLY a homework assignment and I'm placing way too much thought into it, it's the small things in life that tell us about the big. If I cannot do a simple homework assignment carefully and precisely, what makes me think I could do surgery "carefully and precisely"?