Progress report

The semester is just about halfway through. So, how are things going?

Rel A 211 (The New Testament): There was a take-home test due last week, and a quiz in class today. The teacher is intelligent and engaging. I really enjoy class, and the workload isn’t too bad.

StDev 214R (Integrity for Life – Building Personal Character): I feel like this has been a major waste of my time. I enrolled to get an extra credit so I was a full-time student, and although the class discussion has at times been interesting (read: I got to argue with someone), it’s mostly been full of touchy-feely theories on critical thinking and moral development. In fact, even as I write this I can’t tell you exactly what we’re supposed to have learned. Also, I’ve gotten so riled up that I just typed “haved.” We had several projects for this class: a defining moments essay where we addressed particular life-changing instances in our past; a values analysis where we thought about the things that really matter to us right now; a eulogy – our own – where we incorporated the class theories into an essay about what we want to have achieved in the future; and a personal project, in my case a book review, that again incorporated class material and demonstrated how the book changed our character development. Can I officially say, WHAT A BUNCH OF HOOEY. I’m in my best Harriet the Spy mood at the moment (please tell me you’ve read that book), which interestingly enough makes me feel less grouchy. But seriously. Reading The Four Loves didn’t affect my character development and yes, I took a grade deduction for not making something up. My teacher’s comment was that she “couldn’t actually tell what [I] gained from the experience.”

WS 222 (Introduction to Women’s Studies): Fascinating class. We spend most class periods in a big circle of desks (really) discussing how women are perceived and treated, both currently and historically. Unfortunately, this is the professor’s first semester teaching the course, so she’s at times unprepared and unclear about her expectations. Our recent test was absolutely unrelated to the material we discussed – it asked about obscure figures and terms mentioned briefly in the text. I’ll wait until I see my grade on the test to make further judgment.

Soc 311 (Contemporary Sociological Theory): Love it! And I got a 96 on the test. We have multiple quizzes before every class period (I’m taking the once-weekly night class, so normally there would just be one quiz before each three-times-a-week class period), and since there’s always an extra credit point for completing the reading, I have 105% overall. I’d just like to add that it’s a really challenging class and quite a few of my classmates seem to struggle with the material. So yes, I am awesome.

Soc 380 (Deviance and Social Control): I talked about this before; an interesting subject becomes dull in the hands of the wrong speaker. The teacher reads PowerPoint presentations word for word, and our first test – which I’ll be taking tomorrow morning – is a multiple-choice exam on which we can use our notes. It’s true, I’m not really learning much in this class, and while I admit part of that is due to a lack of interest…a lot of it is not my fault.

That’s how things stand right now! I’m frustrated with some classes and enjoying others, but most importantly, in a year I can put on a cap and gown and feel like I’ve accomplished something. (And I’ll get lovely monetary gifts from friends and relatives, RIGHT?)