Anywho, I had something happen to me yesterday that really got me thinking. I was signed up for two advisements, which both turned out to be horribly necessary -- I do wish my first adviser was my only adviser, but he's in Ireland right now, so I made do. This professor, a very old but very sweet English professor, helped me figure out how I can just barely hopefully possibly manage to graduate in 8 semesters. Phew.
One thing that's really causing me troubles is the fact that my heart is set on studying abroad in England during the spring semester of my junior year (aka this time next year you should be watching for a companion blog to this one titled THE ENGLAND PROJECT). I want to be able to call it London, because that's where my darling dearest roommate will be studying, but this adviser [see, I did eventually come back around to the topic of advisement] got me freaked out about the 'quality of classes' at Regent's.
Oh. Well, I don't like taking subpar classes...
And then I thought about it some. I can probably count on one hand the number of classes I've taken in the past 2 years that I could count as 'stellar'. None of the English classes I've taken have been much better than 'subpar', and I've only had 2 Education courses I've really really really really really enjoyed (and that was mostly because of the professors, not the content).
Why, in baby Jesus's good name, should I be worried about which university in England to attend? As long as they have the class offerings I need (one survey course about early British literature, one English elective, possibly one fine arts credit, and a philosophy general education course), why should I be expecting 'stellar' classes in a country I plan on spending a lot of time exploring?
Shouldn't classes be about what you as an individual are able, willing, and motivated to learn?
I shouldn't have to rely on a randomized group of people to determine what I get out of a given course, should I? Does my professor have to be the 'be all, end all' to what knowledge I walk away with?
I'm starting to think that we've been taught to say 'yes', but I want my answer to be 'no'. While in England, I'm going to learn more about who I am as an individual and a learner than I ever will about philosophy or art or English. Hell, when I did a reflection at the end of freshman year (much as I will when this hellish year ends), 99% of what I learned didn't come from one individual class, and it wasn't book-learning. It was knowledge of myself and where I fit into the world around me. The point of studying abroad, I feel, is going to be seeing where I fit into a larger world around me -- how independent I really am, how good I am at making friends with people around me, and how interactive I can be with the place I'm put in life (good practice for after eventual graduation, when I plan to be like a leaf upon the wind in order to find a teaching job).
Hoo! That was a pretty good rant, I'd say! If anyone agrees / disagrees with me, be sure to let me know :)
Until we meet again!!!!!!
