I feel so old today.

Cross posted from Facebook, David has started blogging again so I figure - I can, too :) I doubt I'll keep up with it but who knows.


The first day of classes were today - the umpteenth first day of classes in my lifetime thus far. But today is the first time that I felt really *old* because of it.

I'm taking a US history class with David this semester - one I almost made it all the way through last semester before having to drop towards the end due to my shoulder. That class was lovely, the professor was very good and the rest of the people in the class were at least somewhat mature and around my age.

Tonight was very, very different. As Dave and I watched the students file into class we were both struck by how young everyone looked - he even commented about some of them looking about 12. I figured they must be 18 (college, right?) but I kind of agreed with him. Everyone was so... childish. The way they acted and dressed really made me feel about 10 years older than they were.

The "professor" is, I think, my age. She's loud and can't follow a single thought without going off on approximately 3 unrelated stories. I wish I was exaggerating. While discussing the syllabus she gave a run down of her friends' and family members' favorite movies. It also took her the entire class period to READ through the syllabus - the whole hour and a half. Who does that??

And of course the young girls in the class thought this was fantastic - one in particular was laughing like she was watching a comedy show. I really didn't see the humor in the grading scale or test schedule, but admittedly, I wasn't exactly looking for it.

I'm all about fun in the classroom - make it an enjoyable experience, I appreciate that. But I don't appreciate such inability to focus on the subject matter that you're getting paid to teach - that we are paying to receive. Is it at all relevant to the discussion that when you were in Washington DC you saw a tall man in a loincloth made from bluejeans and carrying a spear? Because I thought we were talking about class objectives.

Six years ago, would I have found that story entertaining? Possibly. I've always been more mature than most people my age when it comes to some things. The teacher was very obviously trying to be "cool" - and seriously failing, in my opinion. You know what makes a professor cool?

Respect for students - treat me like an adult
Sense of humor - applied to the subject matter appropriately.
Focus - be the authority figure, teach us, we're here to learn.
And of course a knowledge of the material, and admittedly, that's the one thing she did seem to have.

I'm sure that's one of the problems of being in school this long - specifically of being in community college and taking mainly entry level courses. Most people there are straight out of high school, and every year I get further from that point in my life. The people that teach here are not excellent instructors, for the most part - the best ones will go to "real" colleges, you know? You do get some good ones and I've been fairly lucky so far in my time there in that I've only had one professor I really hated.

Good things about the class though - it'll be easy. 4 tests, which count for 90% of the grade - 10% for participation and attendance. No papers or anything. I could do this with my eyes close and my ears plugged. Too easy, drill sergeant.

Creative Writing and then Anatomy tomorrow. I've been trying for 2 years to get into this writing class so I'm excited for that one - and Anatomy is supposed to be really hard, even at Tyler, so hopefully it'll give me the challenge that I love in a class. As for History, I've got David at my side (literally) to help me get through it and I think he'll keep me from going crazy with boredom :)