- Thanks to the generous donations of several wonderful folks, I will be attending the Audio Publishers Association conferences at the end of this month; in fact, due to their pricing schedule, I am now an official member of the APA as a voice talent (so I can attend their swanky mixers in New York someday). Many thanks to those who sent their support and prayers my way; now I need prayer that great things will come of it, and that I'll have the courage to actually (gulp!) talk to people...
- I know I ramble on here a good bit about teaching and all its tribulations. If you want a real look at what the job is like, I cannot recommend enough reading this article, sent to me by an instructor friend who knows whereof he speaks. Save for the fact that I'm not an adjunct instructor (thank you, Lord), this article is so eerily on target that it's like "Professor X" crawled inside my life... I had a "Ms. L" just this semester, in fact. And I can't shake that the professor's thoughts on universal college attendance are dead on.
- My finals were given last Friday, so though the mountain of grading still looms over me, I am at last free of the need to actually instruct for some time. More important, this opens up my schedule enough that I can finally write again. I am vowing to do so every day, because I need to do so. I am excited and worried all over again, almost as though I was starting over from scratch, save that I've got a good 2/3 of the novel already laid down. Discipline is my watchword.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Opportunity, Opinion, and Oath
Three things today:
3 comments:
Good night, nurse. That article IS your life.
Dude, you're a hit man.
Excellent read. Depressing result. Ah, Truth.
You know, doing the grading would actually be much more interesting if I thought of myself as a hitman...
Well, I WAS thinking about going back to college. You see, I didn't do so hot when I attempted before, so I was thinking maybe at my ripe old age with all this wisdom (?) under my belt, I might be able to experience more success this time.
This article, however, reminded me of why I failed so miserably. I don't enjoy that type of learning! I like reading things and digging deeper to discover truths, and then retelling the highlights to cement them in my mind. But tests based on the memorization of facts (especially numerical things!) and those detailed expository writing assignments about literature that I don't understand or enjoy made me nuts! I have to have a purpose for the learning, and it can't just be "the expansion of your mind."
I took the easiest math class at ORU. It was called math and society. I was dating a Comp Sci major/math minor. Even Ornery couldn't help me! It has taken me years to overcome the sense of personal failure, which was the only thing I really came away with when I left college. The only classes I passed were English, secretarial skills, required religion classes, and Speech. I changed majors every semester to try to find something I could even do, much less that I would enjoy!
I'd like to think that I've made it fairly well in the adult world without a college education. I mean, I haven't been in jail or anything like that, and I did teach my children at home to the point that they were very successful in their college work.
Truthfully, I learned more when I was homeschooling my kids than I ever did in a classroom. Yet, when I have gone to find a job, without a degree I am not worth the time it takes to read my resume despite my rapid rise in the ranks any time I have ever worked anywhere.
I feel sorry for the teachers who must hand out these poor grades to those who don't seem to have the capacity to learn, and even sorrier for those who have no choice but to keep at it until they finally are forced into the mold required for them to succeed, or else fail and give up.
To me the saddest thing is that the "system" robs students at an early age of their imagination and zeal for learning that is a natural part of youth. Then they have to work so hard later to get them to think.
The system is broken, and while there are some who make it through, there are too many who don't to call it good methodology.
Have you got any solutions, Michael? Can we rework the system somehow? That would be a fabulous mission for us!
TM
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