Today is the last day of instruction for my American Government and Politics class. Originally, the professor tried to see if he could have us take the final exam today, but the administration wouldn't let him. I have to confess, I'm happy that it didn't happen--the thought that we would have had to cram four chapters (the executive branch, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, public policy) and an entire book (though small) on California government in two class days was rather daunting. As it is, we have to get through the judiciary, public policy, and California government today. We'll see how well that works. Something tells me that public policy may fall by the wayside.
I'm not sure how I've done in the class, exactly...well. That's not entirely true, I can gauge some measure of performance based on my test scores. My first test, which I was positive I had completely bombed, turned out to be the highest score in class. I'm sure my classmates just love it when one or two of us completely blow the curve. The second test, while I did quite well on the short answer questions, the multiple choice...not so much. It didn't help that I was in Tucson for part of it, so I missed two days of lecture. I did well on the short answer questions for the third test, too, and I'll see today how well I did on the multiple choice. Somehow, I'll probably wrangle a B out of the class--I can't get any higher, due to the professor's policy on missing classes.
I can see why it's required for graduation from any UC or SU school, but bleah. Though the professor is an interesting speaker, the subject matter is very dry. He also teaches international politics at San Jose State, and something tells me that one would be more interesting. Either way, though, since it's not something I have a lot of interest in, I've really had to work to not only keep attending the class, but to keep up with reading and make sure that I get a passing grade.
Next quarter, I move back to the 8am shift, which will be a welcome change. My classes are still on Tuesday/Thursday evenings, and I'll be getting home somewhere around 11pm those nights, but at least I'll still have plenty of time to sleep. I'm taking yet another stab at English Writing 1A, which I've signed up for god only knows how many times. I'm determined to get through it, though. I'm also taking a World Geography course, which fulfills one of my elective requirements, and should be interesting study--an overview of the world's geography, including culture, religion, region, etc.
Meanwhile, University of Phoenix keeps bugging the hell out of me, wanting me to come back. Don't have all the credits required to start your core program? No problem, we have another arm of our online university that you can go through! It'll still cost you an arm and a leg, but please, take out some more student loans and come join us!
Funny thing is, I don't think I'm going to be going back there at all, which is an epiphany I just came to recently, though it shouldn't have taken so long. I was in UoP's MBA-Management program, but it was only in an effort to get *some* kind of degree, not out of any true desire to actually make that my course of study, not to get a degree that I *wanted*.
So, what's the point of going into a ton of debt for student loans for something I don't want? Better to go do what I really want to do, even if it'll take longer, right? It may mean that I'm a student for the rest of my natural life, since I don't think I'll ever be able to go to school full time. All of that sucks, but...better that than being in debt for something I didn't want in the first place.
SJSU/SCU, here I come. Eventually. :)
Posted by Liz at March 17, 2005 05:44 AM