Ah, those 3 little words that mean so much. They speak of passion, commitment, and eventual lifelong servitude to "the man". They also strike fear into my heart and warn of future financial drains. Yep, it's that time. Time to go "back to school".
August 24th is my date with doom and I couldn't be less enthralled. True, I am happy to be starting down the path of what could possibly, eventually, if I don't quit or lose interest, come to be a diploma in mechanical engineering. Which might possibly, eventually, if I'm lucky, lead to me working for Honda R&D or move to Europe to work on the next hand-made supercar. Hm.
However, I'm not happy about the hard shell of pre-requisites and electives I have to crunch through to get to the center of this particular Tootsie-Roll pop. As it stood, I was only enrolled in 2 classes which would really have any leaning towards engineering--PreCalc and Intro to Chemistry. That is, until a mere 2 weeks before the start of classes, the chemistry professor sent out a misspelled e-mail informing all students that she has some requirements no other instructor does. We would have to attend a 1-hour out of class, uncredited "discussion" as well as her office hours or "we would not pass". Really? An Intro to Chemistry class without a lab? A freaking 100-level class?
10 years ago, the Irish in me would've taken this issue up with the chemistry department and spent time drafting a wordy complaint letter. The older me is more apathetic. It's clear this teacher has unrealistic expectations and I'm not the sort to deal with that. Sure, it threw a wrench in my already stellar class lineup. But from experience, I'd rather take the class(any class) with a helpful instructor who's down-to-earth. I found another class to take in its place and hope that the fates will shine on me next semester.
So for now, it's a bunch of elective fluff which is probably a good thing considering I'll still be working 24-35 hours a week, 50 miles a day. God Bless America.
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2 comments:
yep, ya gotta pay the general-ed dues... at least you still have the pre-calc class. it's very important to keep a math class every semester, since you have so many you'll need to take, er, I mean, since math is the language of science and engineering ;)
I think you did the right thing getting away from that chem teacher. I wish I had done that with my diff eq teacher!
I'm almost done paying my general ed dues. Can't wait! On the other hand, some of my most enjoyable classes have been gen-eds.
I really do like taking math. Not like taking a music course, but I like keeping it fresh. I can't say that'll be the end of my teacher woes, but I'll save my battles for later when I have no choice in the matter. ;)
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