Where to begin? It's been a ridiculous whirlwind since I started this damned program. I actually thought to myself (as opposed to thinking to someone else), "Meeting one Saturday a month?! How hard can this be?!" In doing so, I picked up right where I left off in school: being wrong.
It started at the first meeting way back in October when we were told, "For the next two months, we are going to be meeting twice a month." Twice a month? Really? No prob!...
PROB: Meeting twice a month meant reading 2 novels per month and completed the tedious chore of reviewing each novel to turn in for a grade. At the same time, we were also to complete lesson plans to be published and answer questions for various readings that we were assigned.... on top of our real jobs and other every day garbage that all people deal with.
** NOTE: I didn't sign up for a publications degree or position of editor. I thought this was a bogus task from the beginning.
So, December gets here rather quickly. It wasn't until this point that I realized, " Umm, we haven't received ANY completed work back from the professors." We all must be doing really well or they'd tell us, I guess. No prob!...
PROB: I immediately went into an anxiety fit and my OCD kicked in. Suddenly, it hits me that I've been answering the questions in a format of my own choosing. What if that's wrong? What if they're taking points off each time and I don't know it? What if the plural of moose actually was meece? (Off topic, but felt very relevant at the time.)
**NOTE: It eventually ended up not mattering at all. Everyone's format was different; crisis averted... for now.
Last month we began receiving instruction from a second professor in the history section of the class. Actually, he's the one who handed back our initial paperwork. I had already heard some discouraging news about him as a teacher, i.e. tough to follow in lecture, requires a more detailed explanation during assignments, all around jerk. Right out of the damned gate, he tells us before people are even seated, "I grade tougher than Dr. Xyz (actual name changed to protect the innocent). I'm the tougher of the two. I expect a lot more than he does. This is a graduate level course." I appreciate the honesty. While I'm on this honesty kick, I enjoy his lectures... a lot. He's a sarcastic person who emphasises the idiocy of others and isn't afraid to point out where history, historians, and people who he disagrees with in general went wrong. I like that. I like this guy already! No prob!...
PROB: While I am thoroughly appreciative of this guy's candor and pompous attitude (we would be great friends and better drinking buddies), his grading scale is a bit... skewed. For example, if he thinks that John Adams could've handled Situation A a certain way, but you think he handled it quite well, all things considered.... you just received a letter grade drop. His opinion matters THAT much.
**NOTE: I actually like this guy, as I previously stated. I'm just going to have to adjust and bend my opinions for the next 2.5 years in his class. Can do.
For those of you who don't know, I'm getting the chance to return to graduate school, and it's a pretty sweet deal. I show up once a month (and two weeks in the summer) for three years (total of 66 days) and I get a graduate degree. They pay for the tuition, books, lunch every time we meet, hotels/buses/plane fare when we travel, all my classroom materials, etc. All I paid was the registration fee of $25. I'm extremely grateful to be doing this, especially with some people that I currently work with. However, in true Derrick fashion, I felt it necessary to find the flaws, expose them, and complain about it.
Until next time, I'm going to try to live out a Mark Twain philosophy and try to "never let school interfere with my education."
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