By Amy Faulkner
Today I actually have something to write about. And I
actually have a legitimate confession that has nothing to do with me writing my
blogs in class.
I must confess that not only did I not study for my first
psychology exam, I also did not read any of the material that it was on. I
didn’t even glance at the chapters we were supposed to read in the book. In
fact, I didn't even know we were supposed to have a test. And you know what? I
guessed on every question and got a B.
I have psychology every Tuesday and Thursday with a guy who
teaches at another college half an hour away and is also a full time family
counselor. I took his Psych 102 (core classes! They’re the worst!) because my
roommate took him last year and I knew that he was the easiest psych professor.
The only thing is, his classes are unbelievably boring. I knew what I was
getting into. I thought I could handle the boredom of class if it was going to
be so easy but much to my surprise, when I arrived I found that I was actually
supposed to read the chapters and be quizzed on each one every lesson. All his
tests and quizzes are multiple choice but still, you can only guess right every
now and then. Huge pain, but it’s still my easiest class besides acting. And
you know what makes it even better? On the second exam I did read the
information and study the stuff he told us to study and I got a lower B. Oh the
irony!
Some classes are like that, though. You can’t expect to like
every single one you have to take. You might not even like certain classes that
your major requires, but you have to discern whether it’s the subject that you
don’t like or the teacher. As for me, I think that psychology is fascinating,
and like Harry Potter in History of Magic I think to myself ‘this subject could
be really great if someone else was teaching it,’ every day before I fall
asleep in that class. There’s also the question of my major. I had a minor
breakdown when I realized that I really hated the head of the English
department and the woman I would be taking classes with for the next four years
to get a degree in English. That wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m double majoring
and it turns out that I’m also not very fond of my French professor. I wondered
if I could stand to do what I wanted to do with my life if I would have to face
four years of working with them. But you know what, in the end it’s only four
years and it’s worth it in the end.
I’m taking an acting class as well which I added to beef up
my schedule, because I really love to act, because the teacher is a
professional actor, and because I knew the class would be easy. Well, it’s
easy, but once Mr. Kappa starts talking he literally does not stop for two
hours, which is just over the time limit of the class. We do some fun things,
but he usually ends up interrupting them to tell us something completely
unimportant.
I really love my Old Testament and New Testament Literature
and Interpretation classes. They’re core subjects at my college. I took Old
Testament last year with the hardest bible professor at the college and I had
an A average by the time finals rolled around so I got to opt out of it. New
Testament is going really well, too, and it’s not like it was even a subject
that remotely interests me. My dad’s a pastor, yeah, my siblings are all really
Christian, but not me. I took the class because I have to and I took it with
Dr. Beta instead of Dr. Gamma because I hadn’t heard that Dr. Gamma is
generally thought of as the ‘easier professor.’ Last week one of my upper
classmen friends told me that if I was getting A’s in Dr. Beta’s class then I
could easily minor in Bible. Like I said, I was never particularly interested
in studying the Old and New Testament but Dr. Beta makes it fun and interesting
and genuinely enjoyable.
My last class this semester besides French, which I really
should be writing my essay for, is World Civilizations (also a core subject),
which I will probably withdraw from because I slept through the first midterm
which is worth 15% of my grade and I can’t make it up without a proper excuse.
The highest grade I can get in there is an 85 if I participate in every
discussion every single day, never miss another class, and get an A on every
exam including the final. I love history. My dad was going to get his doctorate
in history and he used to take me to classes at the University when I was
little. And I still love history, despite how tough a grader and how vastly
smart Dr. Theta is. That’s why I want to get an A in his class. I might even be
the only student who ever has. He’s only
been here for one full semester and he’s already gotten a rep as a more harsh
grader than the head of the English department, Dr. Vader. He makes that class
interesting by his sheer enthusiasm for it. And it’s all lectures!
Another thing – expect lectures in college. High Schools
tend to be interactive. College is bigger than that – you will get lots of
lectures. If you don’t already know how, learn how to take notes because you do not want to be sitting there, writing
faster than a humming bird flies, copying everything the professor says in
paragraphs in a class that you’re not allowed to have a computer in. Dr. Theta
won’t let us have computers in World Civ and if I hadn’t just taken a class
with the evil Dr. Vader of the English department (filled up 2-3 blue books in
one hour), my hand might have broken from the strain.
(I’ve changed the English Department head’s name to Dr.
Vader in this blog instead of using a Greek letter as with the other professors
for a reason. One of my upper classmen friends told me that on the last day of
class as she walked in the room, he played the Imperial March. It suits her.
Sometimes it really feels like she’s choking you.)
And finally, and this is what really, really gets to me,
respect your teachers. Last night we had a teacher panel in the dorm and I was
essentially forced to go by the dorm mom because I wasn’t doing anything
important at the time and couldn’t think of an excuse. Well, my World Civ
professor was there and the day before he had told me that I couldn’t make up
the exam that I missed because I didn’t have a valid excuse. Some people might
get really mad about that, but I will take credit for my own mistake. I stayed
up all night, I slept all day, I paid the penalty. So when a dean opened up the
floor for students to make comments about their teachers I let them all know
that I respect a teacher who sticks to their guns. If you say that you won’t
tolerate cheating or sleeping in class, then you don’t tolerate sleeping or
cheating in class. If you say you can’t make up a test because you slept
through class, then you don’t let a student make up that test.
You have to
respect your teachers. You have no idea what they do for you or how much more
they know. If you take a test and get a D, then take it to your professor and
show them that they graded one thing wrong, and complain that they don’t know
what they’re talking about, you still got a D, and one grading mistake rarely
changes that. The whole “I know more than any adult” thing is cute when you’re
ten, but not when you’re expected to behave like an adult in adult matters.
I may not like my Dr. Vader, but I respect her authority in
the classroom and I respect her decisions when she grades my papers and I
respect how much she asks of us, because she wouldn’t ask so much if she didn’t
have very high opinions of us as students.
I remember the first Old Testament test I took. Everyone in
the class has to copy down and sign a pledge in their blue book giving their
honor that they did not receive or give any help on the test to another
student. Professor Beta is very serious about it, which I respect. The day we
got our first tests back he held back two students who forgot to sign their
pledges. All he asked was that they take thirty seconds to copy the pledge and
sign it before they could get the blue book and their grade, their grade was
not affected. They made a huge deal about it, like he was asking them to hand
over their firstborns or sign their souls away. They complained and argued with
him about signing the pledge that they were repetitively reminded to sign on
the day of the test. I was amazed! Upper classmen, disrespecting a professor
like that!
All I can say is, don’t do it. They are smarter than you no
matter what you think and they are well equipped at dealing with immature
teenagers. They care about your education more than you know.
And that is all.
Spring break in just one more week and I’m outta here! I’m
gonna see my niece and my puppy and not worry about anything for a whole ten days!!!
(This article was written in April, copyright 10:31 Life
Ministries)
Also Available from Amy Faulkner
Also Available from 10:31 Life Ministries
A Chosen Generation (1 Peter 2:9): Mediocre Christianity By Angel Edwards
College Commitment: Those Puzzled Athenians-and Us by David Faulkner
To contact or support 10:31 Life Ministries email us at: hi1031.ministries@yahoo.com
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