back to school, back to school, to prove to dad i'm not a fool

I don't think any other question has come up as much as this one: "So, have you finished school yet?" It's usually said with an air of "if you don't finish soon you will surely die alone and retarded."

Well, I'm finally back to the ol' grind and I've got a thought or two after my first class.

Have you ever thought that a class is ridiculous to have a paper or reading or homework assigned on the first day? I've never really had a problem with it. In fact, I'd rather have something useful on the first day instead of a boring "this is what the class is gonna be like" routine.

If, however, you are one of those who thinks it ridiculous for class to be class on the first day then you would be sure to hate one of my profs before you ever met him...because I have an assignment due BEFORE we have class this Thursday. It consists of two chapter of a Biology text and a paper. Did I mention that it is due BEFORE we ever meet for the first time? I think this may be a little out of bounds.

And, speaking of "this is what class is gonna be like" days...I had one of those this evening.

In a class titled "American Ethnic & Minority Literature: Native American Literature" we spent the first 30 minutes listening to a talk on how this class is outside the normal "canon" of literature. Basically, we aren't going to be reading Shakespeare...for thirty minutes! I think we knew that when we signed up for a class with this title.

Then, we spent about 10 minutes listening to our professor complain about the fact that the only two women authors they read in college were Austen and Elliot.

Following that...we watched a movie. A. Movie. In a 300 level literature class (with graduate students taking it as a 500 level course.) And, it wasn't a movie about literature.

So, here's to going to school to get my education.



-joe