While running late to class, I heard the question, “So, what’s the word on the street about this class?” echo from a lecture hall.

As a senior, this left me to wonder about my own choices. Had I selected classes on the recommendation of a classmate? A professor-rating Web site? Or perhaps an overheard conversation between students – essentially strangers?

The reality is that often, despite “the word,” you have to take the class that’s available, one that fits a time slot, or fills a degree requirement regardless of the teacher’s reputation.

This is when you find yourself living the quote by Albert Einstein, “Change is growth and growth is painful.”

It has been my experience that while you might not enjoy the class that challenges the intellect, it is likely the class where you will grow the most. It might even be the class you remember the most – though perhaps not fondly.

However, it does prepare you for the inevitable question from your folks, “Have you learned my money’s worth?” because you’re able to whip out a quip with Platonic or Aristotelian airs and make their jaws drop.

So the next time you get stuck in an agonizing class, think “ROI” (return on investment) and just stick it out. This might just be the painful class where you learn something to last a lifetime or at the very least show you, like it did me, that you too are capable of greatness in times of internal or external strife.

Augustin Ventura is a senior communication studies major from Chicago.