Topic: Things I Hate: School Edition

[nickclone]

As some of you may know, I started going back to school last fall, but I've realized that I really hate somethings about school...and some new things.

The Person Who Won't Shut Up: In highschool, we had to be there, most of us had no choice of being there, what time we were there or what we took. In college (especially community college) you get a lot of people who not only want to be there, but they love being there. These people can also be of any age, usually older people love to talk. There was this one older woman who always tell these long pointless stories that no one cared about and would totally derail the flow of the class by bringing up reality shows. If you want to talk about that shit, do it with your friends...I don't care...quit wasting my time old bitch!

The Over Achiever: In every class there is someone who tries way too hard, they try to the point of literally sniffing up the teacher's ass. Last year there was this guy who was always crashing my class (I was in 101 and he was in 102) and sniffing around the teacher's ass (not literally) because I think he had a thing for her. In my acting class, there were also people who tried so hard that just went over the top and couldn't be taken seriously. I've noticed that most of the over achiever's suck at what they do. Check out the website of some of my classmates, the acting will bring you to the brink of suicide. You can watch it here http://www.absolutiontv.com

Group Projects: I hate group projects! In highschool, you would pick a smart person who would do all of the work or you would separate it all, go amongst yourselves, do your part and bring in the completed part. In college they actually want you to meet outside of school, not only do I not want to, but no one ever does. Makes group work extra complicated and shitty.

The Absent Teacher: I had one class where I would only go in once a month to take a test, the last two classes we had to turn in work labs. I turned all of mine in early, I e-mailed the teacher questions and never got responses. So I had to use my best judgement on the work...which apparently earned me a D in the class even though I did very well on all of the tests. When I e-mailed him for an explanation on my grade, I got nothing...so I e-mailed his wife, she said she would forward the message to him. Never heard from that asshole and still have no idea why I got a D.

[Xessive]

That's a good summary. I hated the same things but I'd also like to add "Class Politics" in which a teacher/prof develops an early prejudice on the students and treats (and grades) them accordingly regardless of actual effort and the reality of the matter. For example, in one of my classes I was often treated as the awkward, humourless foreigner from a scary place and the teacher seemed to only speak to me in a very slow and loud tone as though English was my 8th launguage or something; despite my best efforts to speak to her casually or somehow express that I'm not handicapped. She consistently dropped grammar points in my papers for using British spelling and apparently she had no concept of "grouping" i.e. here's one sentence that stuck out in my mind:

My sentence:
The structure of the Egyptian pyramids is similar to that of the Mayan altars.

Her correction:
The structure of the Egyptian pyramids are similar to that of the Mayan altars.

That, according to her, docked 5% off my grammar mark. Fackin' bitch. I remember because I took the whole case up with the dean of the humanities department.

Thanks for helping me vent out that little bit of a perfectionist's frustration

Oh, the Absent Teacher is utter crap man. Pursue the bastard and don't be afraid to go over his head if necessary.

[gpw11]

Um, I don't want to be a dick here, but acting class?

Apart from that I pretty much agree all the way.  I like to get in and out of class as quickly as possible.  This is to the extent that if I don't get something I'll google it or email the teacher later if I think it's important.  Now, obviously, not everyone should be doing that, but it does get frustrating when people ask stupid questions that aren't really related to what you're doing at all.  Like, if you're in an engineering class and someone asks what the phi factor of a goddamn tree would be.  Not only is that a stupid question, it's a stupid question that doesn't have shit to do with shit.

Overachievers also bug me, as do those who feel like they need to argue in classes where it's really not necessary. About 1/4 of the way through my first degree I figured out that life in situations like school and work isn't really about being right - it's about giving people what they want.  You're rarely going to convince a professor of anything, especially in the shitty arts classes where people try to do it more than anywhere else.

And group projects?  Fuck group projects.  I've dropped classes because of them.  Also, student presentations.  There is no reason for them whatsoever.  It's not highschool, if people need to learn how to be public speakers they can go to Toast Masters. I don't need to be sitting there for 30 min. listening to some nervous motherfucker tell me some shit that very well could be completely wrong.

[nickclone]

Yes, acting class. I've gotten the same reaction when I tell people that so I usually don't. However, if people actually saw me do it they'd realize that I don't suck at it. I'm no Marlon Brando, but I'm not bad for someone who just started out. It's something I've always wanted to try and I'm not getting any younger. Besides, with the job market the way it is I figure I've got just as good of chance landing a gig (when I'm ready) as I could getting a tech job.

I had to do a group project for my finale class last week, it was so boring. Two hours of people rambling on, I wanted to die. My presentation was awesome though, I threw in some comedy and bad words and the class loved it.

[W7RE]

I had a video production class in college, which consisted of nothing but group projects. I made sure to get grouped up with 2 guys I sort of knew and could tolerate, who roomed with eachother. Rather than getting together to do stuff, they would let me do the majority of the script with them in class with them, then they would shoot it. A week before the final project they both dropped out of school and I had to do the whole thing last minute by myself, luckily with a friend standing in as an actor and me playing like 2-3 parts. Atleast the subject matter was open, so I did it as a mock news report about the console systems, which ended in my friend and I beating the shit out of eachother over a game of Halo.

You know, I like learnign new things, how things work, how things are done, etc. I hate school though. I went to college to learn to make video games, and couldn't even keep straight on that. I skipped classes, did the minimum and passed a lot of them with C's and D's. I just really don't like school.