|
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. --Mark Twain |
Monday, March 29, 1999 In Which I Drop Philosophy It's Monday. Time to visit my counselor. Also time for my Philosophy midterm. During the counseling session, I was startled to discover that today was the last day in which it was possible to drop a course. I had seriously misread the calendar on my wall, and had thought that I still had lots of time to do so. Those of you who have been reading this journal regularly are aware of the fact that I haven't exactly been getting much out of my philosophy class. In fact, in looking over my reasons to stay in the course, I found myself able to come up with only two decent ones:
If there'd been anything positive to gain, educationally, I would have stayed. But considering that there wasn't, and considering that I'd about reached the end of my rope, frustration-wise, I realized that I'd already made my decision. There was really no good reason to keep the course. So much for my full-time status.
One thing's for certain: From now on, I trust my instincts. Things would've been different if I'd left this class five minutes into the first period -- as I'd wanted to -- and begged another professor to let me overtally into his course instead. Much different. (And more hectic, as I would have actually had to study, but I think that would have been much better than throwing away half a semester.)
All of this was actually determined after I got through with the counselor. (Her opinion, when pressed, was that if I'd come this far, I might as well keep the course, but that it was ultimately my decision.) I thought it over, called my sister, and realized as I started talking it through with her that I'd already made my decision; I was just looking for ways to justify it. So I called the Queens College Touch-Tone Information Access System (the number for which, after five semesters, is drilled deep into my psyche), and dropped the thing. Hmmm. As long as I'm kind of on the subject, I might as well give y'all a humor column I wrote for the college paper a couple of semesters back, right after spending some time trying to register for my courses. I was thrilled to note that it was included in a library exhibit on the way the college had changed over the years.
| |
|
"Welcome to the Queens College Touch-Tone Information Access System. If
you are using a Touch-Tone phone, press one. Otherwise, you are hopelessly
behind the times and don't deserve to--" BEEP! "To change your Personal Indentification Number, press zero now. To register for... Spring 1997... press one now. To hear the theme to the Twilight Zone, press 9*93 now." BEEP! "Please enter your nine-digit Student Indentification Number now." BEEP-BEEP-BOOP-BIP-BAP-BEEP-BOP-BEEP-BEEP! "Please enter your six-digit--" BEEPbeepBEEPbeepbeepBEEP! "Please enter your nineteen--" BEEPbeepBEEP beepBEEPbapBOOP bupBIPbompBEEP beepbeepbeep... "We're sorry, that is incorrect. Please enter your nine-digit--" ARRGH!! BEEP-BEEP... "To register, press one. To--" BEEP. "To register, or to add a course, press 'A' now. To drop a--" BEEP. "Please enter your four-digit course code now." BEEP-beep-beep-BEEP! "Please enter the cosine of pi to the second power, to four significant figures." [Pause] "You must enter the information during the time allotted. Please enter the cosine of pi to the second power, to four significant figures." BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP "To choose another course, press one. To process your selections, press two." BEEP. "Before I process--" BEEP. "One moment, while I process your request. Please continue to hold... your request has been processed. Course code 3273, Advanced Calculus, has not been added, because you don't qualify. You don't even know the cosine of pi to the second power, to four significant figures. To choose another course, press--" BEEP.
| ||
|
Not much else to tell from the counseling session, or the day in general, as far as I remember. I have heard about another philiosophy professor, who's supposed to be really, really good, and I'm looking forward to trying his class in a future semester. I just wish I'd checked this out before this semester began. That'll teach me. Perhaps I should be noticing a trend right now, in which I'm pruning away activities I'm involved in, right and left. But at this point, it's still too soon to tell where I'm headed in general. This might, in hindsight, become the point in which I learn not to take on too much; alternately, it may be the point in which I get my bearings, and then charge ahead full-speed in a hundred other areas. We'll see. The outlook is improving, though.
|
Contact Back Forth Archives Index |