Poll
Question:
Or do you otherwise think you'll finish 4+ years
Option 1: yes
votes: 21
Option 2: no
votes: 10
What place do you feel higher education has in your life?
My objections to it are
- The time (and money) it takes to complete 4 years forces me into a way of living that conflicts with ways that are productive toward my own (constructive) goals, which I've confidently planned.
- No BA/BFA I could obtain would really give me added 'security'
I'm interested in obtaining a college education but I can't really find a school that designs their degree study like I'd like to do it.
Yes, of course. For one thing, I'm already almost done getting my BFA anyway. For another thing, what I want to do (teaching) requires college education. For yet another thing, I've enjoyed the atmosphere here at school, and the classes, professors, and other students have all helped my writing immensely.
So yeah, I want to complete this degree, and then I'll keep going afterward. I'm comfortable in the path I've laid out for myself.
i don't see myself pursuing a static career
medicine and biology are cool and all, but i'd neglect my interests in the humanities and art
and if i go with the latter, i'll neglect my curiosities and amusement in the sciences
i suppose pursuing medicine and working on my "less important" interests would be somewhat of good plan, but it doesn't feel right. i guess a job that ties up all my interests (so far, psychoendoneuroimmunology fits with that) would be the best bet--but i would feel uncomfortable if i were to be in that field for more than 2-4 years
oh i completely ignored the question
i would love having the majority of my classes being self-study (because i can jump from one interest to the next and progress whenever i feel like it), but i'm not sure how to do so on much more advanced classes--most require you to attend classes--i'll figure something out
cry;
Yes, and easily... Getting a degree is pretty easy and will be useful down the road. Now grad school is a question girl;
idk smithicide;
Yea I wish to complete college so i get a degree so I am marketable for some sort of job.
I went to school for 15 years and my best teacher was experience. It's a fools delight out there with pencil pushers substituting credentials for skill and genius. Every profession will suffer immensely from this perversion of education and what it means to be a learned man. I do not want to be a specialist, I want to be a man of the world. All giants of history were great not because they paid tuition, but because they paid attention.
I am still deciding on whether or not I should get a PHD THE POWER OF GOD
so yes
Quote from: Selkie on October 23, 2010, 01:32:54 AM
Yea I wish to complete college so i get a degree so I am marketable for some sort of job.
This was drunk selkie by the way ^^^
... no :(
I don't want to go into details again.
Hopefully yes
No. I really hate college and there's a very strong possibility that I'll drop out as soon as the semester is over. Besides, at the rate I'm going I wouldn't be a sophomore until next fall, the beginning of my third year on campus.
edit: oh, and socks once again has to take it to a whole other level with over-intellectualizing everything
[spoiler]A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
Emerson.
[/spoiler]
Yeah, for a couple reasons.
1. Parent's expectations. They are paying for a good portion of my college tuition, and I owe it to them to complete it with the best of my ability.
2. From a statistical standpoint, people with college degrees make specifically more money than those without any (especially in business).
3. I fucking love college and everything about it. I've enjoyed my last month in college more than my last 4 years in high school combined.
Quote from: Zach on October 25, 2010, 07:35:52 AM
No. I really hate college and there's a very strong possibility that I'll drop out as soon as the semester is over. Besides, at the rate I'm going I wouldn't be a sophomore until next fall, the beginning of my third year on campus.
Not everyone is made out for college, I'm glad you're making the best decision for you. hocuspocus;
Quote from: Zach on October 25, 2010, 07:35:52 AM
edit: oh, and socks once again has to take it to a whole other level with over-intellectualizing everything
Any monkey can hover a cursor over some text, highlight said text, copy and paste it and put in it italics.
[spoiler]
Look at me, look how super intellectual I am being right now with my italics.[/spoiler]
Quote from: Zach on October 25, 2010, 07:35:52 AM
edit: oh, and socks once again has to take it to a whole other level with over-intellectualizing everything
I wouldn't say he was over-intellectualizing. It was just eloquently stated, that's all.
But he's very right in a lot of ways. There isn't enough emphasis on
learning I dont think, in enough classes. It often feels more like I'm jumping through hoops and buying credits, especially this last semester. I don't think a piece of fucking paper is any indicator at all as to what my experience entails.
I don't know who wouldn't want to complete college, I think the question is really if you think you will.
I'm pretty sure I will, although it might require a change of majors, but hopefully not.
Quote from: Admin on October 27, 2010, 06:28:02 PM
I don't know who wouldn't want to complete college, I think the question is really if you think you will.
Yeah, but college isn't for everyone even though there's so much pressure to attend and social stigma if you don't.
It's dumb for someone to attend when they dont really want to. They only end up more disconcerted about themselves and have a nice hefty tuition bill to boot.
Yes.
Yes because what I intend to get into requires it.
I do get a lot out of the academic structure, and a major to me is just an excuse to learn a whole lotta stuff about one specific thing. To have that opportunity and the resources of a major learning institution, the lessons and guidances of those who have walked before, I find that exciting. So I'd like to graduate. But I have a whole lot of learning that needs to happen outside of the classroom. The extracurricular, highly social environment of college helps with that, but maybe I'll need something new one day. I do hope I can push my lifestyle to be more DIY in the process.
Well...I'm here on boyah instead of doing my hw. n_u
in all honesty i don't want to even go to college although i am going this spring semester.
Quote from: hobbit on November 02, 2010, 06:21:17 PM
in all honesty i don't want to even go to college although i am going this spring semester.
Why are you going if you don't want to go?
Quote from: TheSequel on November 05, 2010, 12:21:39 AM
Why are you going if you don't want to go?
social obligations
Quote from: YPR on November 05, 2010, 09:05:42 AM
I don't think that's a social obligation
yes it is
Quote from: YPR on November 05, 2010, 10:58:34 AM
Not everyone can go to college
a majority of people do. if someone chooses not to, socially they're branded as an idiot
Quote from: Travis on November 05, 2010, 11:04:08 AM
a majority of people do. if someone chooses not to, socially they're branded as an idiot
Clucky is already branded girl;
Quote from: YPR on November 05, 2010, 11:16:14 AM
Clucky is already branded girl;
my favorites are sociopathic and nurturing
d'ohohohoho
So... you're basically letting other people force you into things?
Quote from: TheSequel on November 05, 2010, 08:15:15 PM
So... you're basically letting other people force you into things?
who r u tlkin' 2~
Quote from: TheSequel on November 05, 2010, 08:15:15 PM
So... you're basically letting other people force you into things?
basically. i have no sense of direction anyway so why not? i guess.
Beer. Girls. Pranks.
I'll probably never make it.
I'm fairly sure college is a little important to my life as a whole, considering my interest in engineering. The real question is whether I'll do something like grad school, but I'll wait until having some idea what college is like before deciding that.
QuoteError: You have a hold on your record. The hold on your record must be removed before this transaction can be processed.
I might not even finish the year!!! ^________________________^
Yes, very much so. I'm going to complete my associate's degree in business administration in may, and then transfer to a 4-year school to get a bachelor's degree in marketing. I might go on for a master's degree. If I can find a job that will help finance my way through a master's degree, then I'll definitely do that, too.
Quote from: Panty on November 11, 2010, 09:56:19 AM
I might not even finish the year!!! ^________________________^
i signed away my soul saying i'd pay tuition by the 10th of december so they would let me drop a class this late in the semester. and now i probably have a $500 hold being placed on my account to complicate the matter. i might be fucked.
Quote from: Zach on November 17, 2010, 12:44:25 AM
i signed away my soul saying i'd pay tuition by the 10th of december so they would let me drop a class this late in the semester. and now i probably have a $500 hold being placed on my account to complicate the matter. i might be fucked.
Take out a loan.
Quote from: yoseph on November 11, 2010, 03:02:57 PM
Yes, very much so. I'm going to complete my associate's degree in business administration in may, and then transfer to a 4-year school to get a bachelor's degree in marketing. I might go on for a master's degree. If I can find a job that will help finance my way through a master's degree, then I'll definitely do that, too.
Actually, now I'm considering maybe joining the Marines after community college and then going and getting my bachelor's degree.
Well, you're cocky enough to be in the forces. 5thgrade;
Quote from: Classique on November 18, 2010, 12:27:24 PM
Well, you're cocky enough to be in the forces. 5thgrade;
the marines would murder him. he'd probably be best as a member of the coast guard.
Quote from: Mercowskey, Liza on November 18, 2010, 01:28:22 PM
the marines would murder him. he'd probably be best as a member of the coast guard.
the coast guard would murder him. he'd probably be best as a cast member of jersey shore.
i play bbal with all the members of jeresy shore
Quote from: Not Famy on November 18, 2010, 01:40:34 PM
the coast guard would murder him. he'd probably be best as a cast member of jersey shore.
not even close
Quote from: XLR on November 18, 2010, 04:23:55 PM
should be fun. have fun shootin up some dumb nigga s
Well, if I did join, I wouldn't be infantry. I'd choose logistics or intelligence since those fields would be good stepping stones towards my career choice in marketing.
Yes, I definitely plan on finishing. I think I would like to go through and get my license too, but I don't know. Since coming here I've realized I have a lot more interest in development than in practicing architecture itself.
I would really rather not work for a large corporation/firm and would much prefer to do things on my own, and I agree that I don't learn that much in school, but I enjoy it here and I feel it is in large part necessary to have the life that I want. It's nice to only be concerned with getting my degree as fast as possible and getting out rather than with getting a high GPA to get into grad school or a job with a big firm. I'm already almost a year ahead, and I plan on making sure I get out in 4 rather than 5 (B. Arch is a 5-year degree).
I really enjoyed working in property management this summer, and I've talked to my parents about continuing on in it. I think they really like the idea. I had been thinking about a City & Regional Planning or Urban Studies minor, but I think I might go with business or construction management instead. I like to dream big dreams, but I'd prefer to get realistic things done in a timely manner to writing up policies and long-term shit that never gets done. That's also a big part of why I think I would probably be happier in small-scale development than practicing with a design firm.
Regardless, I'm here now, I enjoy it, none of my classes really transfer to any other majors, and it doesn't prevent me from pursuing what I think I want (but am not entirely sure of), so...
I don't want to finish anymore, no. I've lost all motivation to continue my studies, and the only reason I want to graduate is so I can stop.
Dropping out is not an option since I'm so far into my schooling it'd be kind of ridiculous not to get my degree first.
Quote from: Potty Moss on December 07, 2010, 09:53:31 PM
I don't want to finish anymore, no. I've lost all motivation to continue my studies, and the only reason I want to graduate is so I can stop.
Dropping out is not an option since I'm so far into my schooling it'd be kind of ridiculous not to get my degree first.
That's pretty much how I was feeling about Arts & Lettres. 5thgrade;
well actually i wasn't as unmotivated as you were since my classes were fun but at a certain point i knew i wasn't going to continue in that branch but i was too far when i came to that conclusion so i finished that and then i started something else
Quote from: Thyme on December 08, 2010, 11:24:19 AM
That's pretty much how I was feeling about Arts & Lettres. 5thgrade;
well actually i wasn't as unmotivated as you were since my classes were fun but at a certain point i knew i wasn't going to continue in that branch but i was too far when i came to that conclusion so i finished that and then i started something else
That's most likely what I'm going to do.
myface;
Quote from: Potty Moss on December 07, 2010, 09:53:31 PM
I don't want to finish anymore, no. I've lost all motivation to continue my studies, and the only reason I want to graduate is so I can stop.
Dropping out is not an option since I'm so far into my schooling it'd be kind of ridiculous not to get my degree first.
THAT IS WHAT YOU GET FOR PICKING SOME STUPID SHIT LIKE PHILOSPHY FAGGOT
Quote from: Khadafi on December 12, 2010, 10:44:46 AM
THAT IS WHAT YOU GET FOR PICKING SOME STUPID SHIT LIKE PHILOSPHY FAGGOT
saddood;
Quote from: Potty Moss on December 12, 2010, 12:07:58 PM
saddood;
he is just being a honey badger
he hates anything that doesn't progress scientific discoveries giggle;
Which is why I picked political science, for the best of both worlds n_u
[spoiler]Yes that is a joke girl;[/spoiler]
if it wasnt for philosophy we wouldn't have radio
Quote from: Analysis Paralysis on December 12, 2010, 12:58:29 PM
he is just being a honey badger
he hates anything that doesn't progress scientific discoveries giggle;
I SEEK JMV'S APPROVAL, and he never gives it to me. cry;
Quote from: Potty Moss on December 12, 2010, 01:59:06 PM
I SEEK JMV'S APPROVAL, and he never gives it to me. cry;
don't talk of post-modernistic thoughts, feelings are irrelevant, remember prose and styles are useless, believe everyone who isn't a liberal is an idiot, and stray away from politics while mindlessly believing in anything he says politically-wise and maybe then he'd like you bassir;
Quote from: Analysis Paralysis on December 12, 2010, 02:24:01 PM
don't talk of post-modernistic thoughts, feelings are irrelevant, remember prose and styles are useless, believe everyone who isn't a liberal is an idiot, and stray away from politics while mindlessly believing in anything he says politically-wise and maybe then he'd like you bassir;
that is very post- modern
Quote from: Potty Moss on December 12, 2010, 01:59:06 PM
I SEEK JMV'S APPROVAL, and he never gives it to me. cry;
you are the prettiest homosexual hippo
Quote from: villinman666 on December 12, 2010, 02:41:06 PM
that is very post- modern
no that is pre-post modern do you not know anything gosh
no, tyler's the prettiest homosexual
hippos the homiest pomo-sexual
Quote from: Analysis Paralysis on December 12, 2010, 02:54:58 PM
no that is pre-post modern do you not know anything gosh
wouldnt that just be modernism
im proto-moderncore
Quote from: Sheets are Swaying on December 21, 2010, 12:26:23 AM
no, tyler's the prettiest homosexual
hippos the homiest pomo-sexual
why are you lying poooppet
no your a pupppet
I keep becoming fearful that when I do go to college, I'll pick a pointless major and end up with a mountain of debt. :(
Quote from: Double Doppelkreuz on January 11, 2011, 11:50:36 PM
I keep becoming fearful that when I do go to college, I'll pick a pointless major and end up with a mountain of debt. :(
Umm.. Yeah. akudood;
Quote from: Double Doppelkreuz on January 11, 2011, 11:50:36 PM
I keep becoming fearful that when I do go to college, I'll pick a pointless major and end up with a mountain of debt. :(
It's pretty much a common fact now that unless you major in engineering or economics (something related) as an undergrad, you are going to need to go to grad school after.
And pretty much all undergrad majors (besides engineering and economics, something related) are just broad gateways into more specific graduate majors.
So major in what you truly enjoy as a undergrad. You will enjoy he coursework, and along the way hopefully you will decide on a narrower career path, then go to grad school for that.
Quote from: Selkie on January 13, 2011, 03:43:47 PM
It's pretty much a common fact now that unless you major in engineering or economics (something related) as an undergrad, you are going to need to go to grad school after.
And pretty much all undergrad majors (besides engineering and economics, something related) are just broad gateways into more specific graduate majors.
So major in what you truly enjoy as a undergrad. You will enjoy he coursework, and along the way hopefully you will decide on a narrower career path, then go to grad school for that.
what are you talking about
Quote from: Travis on January 13, 2011, 04:06:35 PM
what are you talking about
Smooth vested tracheophyta dye. Duh.
ok
Quote from: Selkie on January 13, 2011, 03:43:47 PM
It's pretty much a common fact now that unless you major in engineering or economics (something related) as an undergrad, you are going to need to go to grad school after.
And pretty much all undergrad majors (besides engineering and economics, something related) are just broad gateways into more specific graduate majors.
So major in what you truly enjoy as a undergrad. You will enjoy he coursework, and along the way hopefully you will decide on a narrower career path, then go to grad school for that.
So, uh.. Are you still in biology?
it's one of those things i am going to do. science
In an ideal world, sure. Though I honestly don't know. This might very well be my last semester. I am conflicted in conflicts of confliction. My mind and everyone else tells me to graduate. But my heart and everything else tells me it really does not matter. Technically I finish Junior year next week, credit and course wise, but actually I am almost three semesters behind. It makes no sense to stop here (32 credits short of that false 33rd degree), but college has not made much sense either. My GPA is mediocre, in generous terms, though I never cared about that. My grades are entirely F's and A's, seriously, 70/30 ish for the latter, and the late drop credits I had have been used up. More than one counselor/adviser/professor has frowned and puzzled over that fact, but the reason is quite simple, even if complex. They don't understand because their priorities determine their perspective, and we share very different desires in life and visions of the world.
I can easily bring my grades up. The material has never challenged me, it has been my own perception, and the total pointlessness of it all, which has influenced my academic record. In almost every class I have stood out, for the intensity, vastness and nature of my insight. I'm not being vain, but that is impossible not to be, when telling a great truth. I have impressed all instructors which I have studied under, sure they might thing little of my attitude and outlook, but they could never deny or silence my mind and heart. I don't care for the abstract and indirect sight which will somehow show my 'worth'--the grade. No, I care much more about the actual process of learning and knowledge, when I have that, I don't need anything more, I am satisfied. This is more difficult to attain. People seek to bypass actually learning and go right to the marks, then complain about life. The entire nature of this neo-liberal world promotes the idea that character can be quantified and measured to some standard, and that in turn promotes the idea that people don't need to develop character, so they never do. How sad.
I am not 'smart' or whatever, because I went to class and sat there for two hours and hated it and then suddenly knowldege was transmitted to me. I am what I am because I everything I do I learn from and bring that to class with me. I make the course, it does not make me. School has always been an extension of what I already know, it has not filled me with anything new or unknown. Study does not stop when the bell rings, because experience is the mother of all thought. How curious, my fellow students waste their time away when on their own, and then come to class and magically expect to learn everything there. But they are there for the wrong reasons, for profit, not gain, for profession, not education. But no amount of courses in the world will make you the next Tesla or Shakespeare, that talent wasn't taught, it was learned. The world inspired their works, and their internal self created them. This is the difference between a circuit board and a mind. Once calculates information, the other interprets meaning. Which one are you?
I see and hear those who sit next to me, who reiterate like a machine, the basic and the methodical, as if to simply be a copier is our goal in life, and they get nearly the same grades as me. But while I agonize and fret over actualizing into form a higher standard that I hold my own, indeed the highest possible, which I conjure within me, they simply fulfill the requirements and meet the deadline. For this they are rewarded. While I am penalized because I am not satisfied with the manner in which I have expressed myself. As if an idea can care for time. What is the rush, will it not be true tomorrow, less valuable too? Sometimes I will condemn an entire semester or an A, because I have missed some classes, and no longer consider myself entitled to that mark or recognition. I have violated the spirit of the process, that cannot be ignored, and it matters a lot to me. How can I explain that in a resume? Keeping it one page, of course. These are the people that when told of something, ask how long it has to be, and I want to strangle them when I hear that question. Down the line, when you ask them to watch you back, they'll ask you for how long. And you will know the difference then between a good man, and a good enough man. All it takes it getting to know someone to understand their entire philosophy.
When you read their papers, which I have, and which belong in elementary school, or when you hear the speak, which I unfortunately have to, and which consist of like and like every half second, you will instantly see, they do not nearly leave the same impression as someone who takes life seriously and thoughtfully. So I think, are you kidding me? This fool will have the same degree as me, the same piece of paper, the same credentials, and yet how simple is he and she! The teachers encourage all, even the ones who needs to be addressed and redirected. This view of freedom without limits, has produced liberty without moral, and we therefore have this sense that all opinion is equal, ha, that is what has doomed us to the present mess. So yeah, as hard as it may be for you to believe, and I have questioned myself and struggled with this for years, I simply choose not to do the work sometimes, not to attend class, and don't care, though I do, because it does not define me. Can you realize how significant and bold that statement is?
The belief that I need no arbitrary council to judge me, but only the conduct of my character and the treatment I direct to all, is what matters to me. People work to death and commit suicide over poor grades because they have committed themselves to allowing activity and artificial denotions to define them. Failing to realize that only internally and only they can define and give meaning to the world and all that they there see. This is apparent and obvious to all that know, so I really do not fear having no degree, it won't make me any less and won't make you any more. You will still need to check yourself when talking to me. People are an open book, and the minute you claim something you sure as fuck have not earned, you might as well eat that paper degree, unless of course, there are only other fools before you to see. Ah, the tinsel glory of some, how blissful it must be. They don't know history, so I wonder what they think of the past? Do they even? When men were men for who they were, not for who they knew. I am sure they were stupid compared to everyone today, because they did not have a college degree. Hahahaha, oh that's too much, I think they need to drink more tea.
College, education as a whole, is not about intellectualism, or fostering a creative spirit; these two are vastly different ideologies."Higher education' is about specifying knowledge and specializing the soul, destroying imagination and instilling discipline, conforming to the system. It does not prepare one for a citizenship of decency and just moral character, but toward the uniform of the corporate world. Finance has surpassed ethics, economics has subverted observance. It has always been very difficult to sit in class, and look around me at an apathetic, desensitized, simple and frankly, stupid pupil mass who cares not about knowledge and wisdom, rather of the grade on a piece of paper, and passing time as quickly as they can. Getting a hollow degree for a hollow job is not for me. I am distraught, dismayed that they, who insult the very essence of the institution and what it represents and signifies, are considered the 'ideal students', who received 'good' marks for their mindless adherence to modern policy and complement of busy work, trivial and meaningless.
What motivation could I derive from this environment? Me, who believes dutifully and perhaps tragically in the spirit of function from form. It was difficult to see a point, yet easy to feel its pain. But I digress, I hope on this we understand each other. It is impossible to respect someone who thinks little of their independent self, like trying to teach the blind man to avoid the wall. It has always been my hope to mean much more than some title or classification, for I am chiefly me, and everything else falls below that, because of that, a part of that, but that is not me, this is who I am, the human being, the gentleman, the scholar and the jolly good fellow. I shall like to be financially well off, so i don't have to live my life slaving over the bonds of this material world, but I do not wish to rise to power on the backs of others, not to impress and wield some corrupt, inherently selfish ideology or influence, but always to lead by example, and practice what I believe, that if I am true and worth following, I am sure others will take notice and will do me good.
What is the point of driving a $100,000 benz on a crumbling street, decaying and filled with the homeless? It is something right out of Kafka, in the plaster glitzy age. Yeah, trust me, I have heard many a man, father, husband, say the key to keeping their wife happy is money, and I am struck almost dead, for I would feel death to lose someone's heart over my pocket. I am just thinking of course, nothing specific, but it seems so astonishing, this root of evil. Sure it can't buy you happiness, or respect or friendship, but it can sure as hell facilitate the potential for such things, and this is unfair, as capital does not equal merit, nor does status translate to decency. There is a reason that in all the villages I have traveled through the more remote lands, the town elders were the most respected and revered, often the wisest and the most caring, without anything but their experience as their guide. I almost want to laugh at the clientele at work, sure sir, you may have succeeded as a doctor, but you have utterly failed as a person. They may known medical terminology, but have yet to learn the words please and thank you. Bah, I could vent on an on about this modern culture, but I wont, its not the time or the place.
Yours sincerely, a college drop out.
I largely agree. I suffer a similar, but lesser, plight.
As you raise in your second to last paragraph, even though the degree means nothing to you, it does mean something to a lot of people, and it might still be a good idea to stick the last bit out for practicality's sake. Realistically, how much longer would it take for you to graduate?
I know man, but the more it is valued the more I just want to flip my finger at it. Kind of self destructive bit whatever, wrong reasons and all of that. Anyway, to answer your questions, about a year and a half with academic probation and course availability considerations.
Quote from: Socks on April 30, 2011, 06:59:59 AM
Yours sincerely, a college drop out.
Last semester I left for break so completely fucking dejected and burned out that I said the same thing. Now that I'd centered and focused on one particular major, I was ready to really get into the material, because I found it fascinating, but instead I was greeted with more by-the-textbook-fact-vomiting and memorization. No room for any real thought or
anything that I couldn't get by stealing someone's textbook and dedicating a few hours to slicing my brain with the monotony. (And they're those textbooks with the fucking cartoons and the witticisms and the bolded keywords that you relay on a multiple choice scan-tron).
But then, this semester I took a comm theory class and everything is looking a little different.
The professor is a cynical brit, who is frustrated with academia. His classes are derived from his own theory which is based on case studies he worked on and from people he worked with mixed with a combination of several really striking articles by well knowns and unknowns in the field.
Class structure is lecture, and while he insists on control, there are tons of really great, critical discussions that sprout up violently, all the time.
I love it. I love the papers I've had to write for it. I love the content. I love the fact that I'm excited about learning and applying these ideas which are the absolute opposite of the regurgitated mush that I've been exposed to.
It's like dropping a fresh log in the fire. There's no cartoon-ridden textbooks. No bullshit.
This isn't something that should be a rarity, even for smaller schools. This should be commonplace. I shouldn't have to drop thousands of dollars to listen to some flub recite from a two hundred dollar textbook and then get chewed out and almost flunked because I didn't show up to half of his classes (even though I aced every one of his exams).
I understand completely where you're coming from, and it's ridiculous to
accept these hideously low standards they set.
Quote from: Chemical Zen on May 01, 2011, 06:09:12 PM
I understand completely where you're coming from, and it's ridiculous to accept these hideously low standards they set.
Thank you for your fight, brother of the rarest kind. It is not so much the present which troubles me, the future is what bothers me. Seems so terribly predictable and yet so entirely promising. I lack no source of wonder to mind or have need of a heart inspired, in my own life, but I have never lived simply for myself. And the current state of my fellow man weighs upon me heavily. Instances of light from shining beacons of illuminating insight never really diminish the night, just graphically demonstrate the plight of humanity, with a fleeting, bright, fire of passionate intensity. A sign of comfort to sailors stormed at sea, lost on board their vessel of hope, that voyaged for love's discovery. It doesn't help that I must come home to a father that is as material as plastic can be and to a mother as beautiful as she is dutiful--anguish--I think, wretch, what cost your pondering does inflict! And I delay, I sabotage, I fear the gradual, perhaps inevitable claw of conformity that my professional education embodies. It just feels we're always swimming against the tide. Where topical isles of chance give but temporary relief from currents and cannot offer more than insufficient oases of life.
Quote from: Chemical Zen on May 01, 2011, 06:09:12 PM
I love it. I love the papers I've had to write for it. I love the content. I love the fact that I'm excited about learning and applying these ideas which are the absolute opposite of the regurgitated mush that I've been exposed to.
I am uncertain of where I am ultimately going though I see the place I see constantly and know exactly where I want to be. I have seen and known many a man as your professor. His essence is my own. The perspective held there is held here too, pinched at the corners from pressures of embedded souls. This reality of dreamers, this fabric of dreams, stretches tightly across a canvas of this world. There we carve our marks, but while some write for hope, most just scribble to screw, and time passes on what could have been. A pattern of such individuals and such beliefs and such lives and such eventualities are as old as the sun and repeat endlessly in figures of eternity--divine branches of a holy tree--from the womb to the tomb. As Keats cried, 'how many Bards gild the lapses of time!'. I add, 'silently'. I am saddened of this tragedy. You know, there is a charm to righteous melancholy, fatal and deadly. But oh, how pleasantly it kills! Looking in the mirror of misery and despair, and loving the heroic, doomed fool who wisely reflects there. It is not greatly appreciated, the satisfaction of humble revolts, for fulfillment of some cosmic cause. More than a choice, a privilege, a reward, a destiny that is wholly our own.
I want to drop out so badly.... But my parents almost crapped their pants when I casually mentioned the idea... *sigh*
if they aren't payiong it. then fuck em.
It's gotta happen. Next step!