Glare Seethe
03-01-2004, 03:12 PM
WARNING: this is long, whiney and most likely pretty boring. Feel free to do with this thread whatever you want.
Two days into the new semester and my first impression is that it's going to be three months of pure torture. I guess it was too good to last - last semester saw mostly interesting courses with good professors, but this semester is the complete opposite.
My Roman Imperialism class is shaping up to be very, very dull. I'm not a big fan of Rome anyway, but it's always possible to make things interesting if you're a good lecturer. This one isn't. She spent the first half of class reading directly from her notes, only occasionally looking up at the students. None of what she said was very interesting - mostly pretty bland stuff. I dozed off fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I am more or less obligated to take this class due to beaurocratic reasons I'm sure none of you give a shit about.
Then there's the "Origins of the Modern World - Europe in the 19th Century" class. Now, the 19th century is one of my favorite eras. It was a period of transition - clashes between old and new, etc. However, most of what will be taught in this class are things that I've already a)heard in a previous 19th century class I took (more on this later), and b)read about on my own. I am certainly no expert, though, and there are many more things to learn about it, so I was hoping the teacher would be good and consequently the class would be, too. Not so. Average at best. The course will go over main events, mostly political, rarely sidestepping into the kind of unfamiliar topics (for me) I was hoping it will. Sucks.
Now, I took a smaller "introduction" class to the 19th century last year, but because I'm dumb I didn't take the test and thus forfeit the entire course. That was my crime. So this semester I decided to take it again, but with a different professor, to get a different perspective. No reason to take the same exact course twice when you're obligated to actually be in the class (you're allowed to be absent only three times). So I signed up for a different professor. This was my punishment. The class is small - only seven people. I hate small classes. They make me feel awkward and uneasy because I have to sit in the front, and well, I have to participate, two things I hate. It would be a consolation if the other students would be the talkative kind - the ones that are interested in participating and can carry a debate/discussion. Such is not the case. Everyone there is even more silent and sociophobic than me, and I ended up talking more today in an hour and a half than I did in all my class last semester put together. What sucks even worse is that the class focuses on Russia in the 19th century. I knew this in advance, though. I attemped to evade my fate by signing up for the third possible professor - but class was full. So I opted for this one rather than going back to the one I took last year; I wouldn't have minded the Russian focus if there weren't so few people in the class. Au contraire, I actually figured a different perspective on 19th century events would be enlightening. It might still be, I guess.
Then there is the introduction course to the Middle-Ages. I had high expectations of this one, as I heard good things about the professor. Unfortunately, none of them were justified by any means. He absolutely fucking sucks, in every possible way. He's horrid. He speaks slowly, in a very, very low volume, mumbling incoherencies to himself. I could barely hear what he was saying. He stares down at his desk most of the time, rarely looking at the class. He makes no effort whatsoever to make his course interesting in any way. His demands are relatively high - a paper every two weeks or so, I think. I wouldn't mind that at all if only I had fun sitting in class. It would at least be some sort of consolation and would drive me to work harder on my own. But no. If he has high demands of us he should have high demands of himself, as well. And apparently, he doesn't give a shit.
So today I went into a different professor's MA intro class to check my other option. This guy was incredible. He stormed into class and completely blew the ceiling off the room. He was a complete antithesis to the first one, though admittedly, sometimes it was hard to keep up, which somewhat intimidates me. He also doesn't look very approachable and had an aura of self-importance surrounding him. I guess he knows he's good. Regardless, I prefer him over the first guy. Unfortunately, the class was absolutely packed. I have serious doubts that I'll be able to get in - and changing courses can only start from next week. I will be attending his next class on Wednesday anyway, in case I do get in. I don't want to miss any material.
There is also a decent "The American Century" class. Interesting topic, but again, the professor seems pretty annoying and dull.
What sucks is that last semester I had such amazing professors, and such interesting classes. This semester throws me back into the harsh reality of bad teachers and boring classes, I guess. Unfortunately, my options are very limited for this semester - the schedule I constructed was the only one that made any sort of sense, so I can't really change any of them, and I don't want to cancel any because I'd end up with barely any school hours and consequently nothing to do, not to mention that it would, of course, take me longer to finish my degree.
Now, I fully acknowledge the fact that I've blurted out this rant after a mere two days, and that my opinions can change throughout the semester, but I find it highly unlikely, especially because I'm already feeling so negative about everything. I don't feel like coming to class, nor do I have any desire to read the material required for any of them. But I can't afford to lose a whole semester. Ugh.
/whine
Two days into the new semester and my first impression is that it's going to be three months of pure torture. I guess it was too good to last - last semester saw mostly interesting courses with good professors, but this semester is the complete opposite.
My Roman Imperialism class is shaping up to be very, very dull. I'm not a big fan of Rome anyway, but it's always possible to make things interesting if you're a good lecturer. This one isn't. She spent the first half of class reading directly from her notes, only occasionally looking up at the students. None of what she said was very interesting - mostly pretty bland stuff. I dozed off fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I am more or less obligated to take this class due to beaurocratic reasons I'm sure none of you give a shit about.
Then there's the "Origins of the Modern World - Europe in the 19th Century" class. Now, the 19th century is one of my favorite eras. It was a period of transition - clashes between old and new, etc. However, most of what will be taught in this class are things that I've already a)heard in a previous 19th century class I took (more on this later), and b)read about on my own. I am certainly no expert, though, and there are many more things to learn about it, so I was hoping the teacher would be good and consequently the class would be, too. Not so. Average at best. The course will go over main events, mostly political, rarely sidestepping into the kind of unfamiliar topics (for me) I was hoping it will. Sucks.
Now, I took a smaller "introduction" class to the 19th century last year, but because I'm dumb I didn't take the test and thus forfeit the entire course. That was my crime. So this semester I decided to take it again, but with a different professor, to get a different perspective. No reason to take the same exact course twice when you're obligated to actually be in the class (you're allowed to be absent only three times). So I signed up for a different professor. This was my punishment. The class is small - only seven people. I hate small classes. They make me feel awkward and uneasy because I have to sit in the front, and well, I have to participate, two things I hate. It would be a consolation if the other students would be the talkative kind - the ones that are interested in participating and can carry a debate/discussion. Such is not the case. Everyone there is even more silent and sociophobic than me, and I ended up talking more today in an hour and a half than I did in all my class last semester put together. What sucks even worse is that the class focuses on Russia in the 19th century. I knew this in advance, though. I attemped to evade my fate by signing up for the third possible professor - but class was full. So I opted for this one rather than going back to the one I took last year; I wouldn't have minded the Russian focus if there weren't so few people in the class. Au contraire, I actually figured a different perspective on 19th century events would be enlightening. It might still be, I guess.
Then there is the introduction course to the Middle-Ages. I had high expectations of this one, as I heard good things about the professor. Unfortunately, none of them were justified by any means. He absolutely fucking sucks, in every possible way. He's horrid. He speaks slowly, in a very, very low volume, mumbling incoherencies to himself. I could barely hear what he was saying. He stares down at his desk most of the time, rarely looking at the class. He makes no effort whatsoever to make his course interesting in any way. His demands are relatively high - a paper every two weeks or so, I think. I wouldn't mind that at all if only I had fun sitting in class. It would at least be some sort of consolation and would drive me to work harder on my own. But no. If he has high demands of us he should have high demands of himself, as well. And apparently, he doesn't give a shit.
So today I went into a different professor's MA intro class to check my other option. This guy was incredible. He stormed into class and completely blew the ceiling off the room. He was a complete antithesis to the first one, though admittedly, sometimes it was hard to keep up, which somewhat intimidates me. He also doesn't look very approachable and had an aura of self-importance surrounding him. I guess he knows he's good. Regardless, I prefer him over the first guy. Unfortunately, the class was absolutely packed. I have serious doubts that I'll be able to get in - and changing courses can only start from next week. I will be attending his next class on Wednesday anyway, in case I do get in. I don't want to miss any material.
There is also a decent "The American Century" class. Interesting topic, but again, the professor seems pretty annoying and dull.
What sucks is that last semester I had such amazing professors, and such interesting classes. This semester throws me back into the harsh reality of bad teachers and boring classes, I guess. Unfortunately, my options are very limited for this semester - the schedule I constructed was the only one that made any sort of sense, so I can't really change any of them, and I don't want to cancel any because I'd end up with barely any school hours and consequently nothing to do, not to mention that it would, of course, take me longer to finish my degree.
Now, I fully acknowledge the fact that I've blurted out this rant after a mere two days, and that my opinions can change throughout the semester, but I find it highly unlikely, especially because I'm already feeling so negative about everything. I don't feel like coming to class, nor do I have any desire to read the material required for any of them. But I can't afford to lose a whole semester. Ugh.
/whine