The university I attend is pretty good, not anything great like Yale or Princeton or even UCLA. Heck, I'm pretty sure most people in other parts of the country have never heard of the University of the Arts. Around here, though, people know about it and it has one of the best illustration programs in the country, so I guess it's a little more prestigious than I put it out to be. Not only is it decent, it's also a private university.
College in general is expensive. To go to UArts, it's almost thirty thou, though with scholarships and federal aid, the cost can be cut down significantly. Despite that, most kids at UArts aren't going for free. And actually, I hear often, "This school is SO expensive!"
If it's so expensive, then why aren't you using your time wisely? Why are you constantly skipping class? How come you don't do all of your assignments?
I don't understand my peers half the time. Take, for example, my writing class. In the fall semester, we were introduced to a man who is intelligent to the bone, but fails miserably at public speaking -- and he's the department chair. Anyway, not only is he a fun guy, he's also the most lenient college prof I've ever heard of or met. Most teachers will smile with you and say, "I'm sorry, but that was due today. No exceptions." This guy will look around the room and then say, "Get it to me whenever you can."
What?
No, no. Sir, you must understand...your leniency is causing problems. The students in the class took advantage of his lack of attendance taking and his nonchalant attitude about turning papers in on time. Now, this shouldn't bother me because it's not me, right? Wrong. It makes me angry to know that people can get away with doing stuff last minute, turning things in late, not show up to class and STILL pass with at least a C...sometimes a B, even.
WHY?
This semester, I had the same teacher for writing II, and the same thing happened. On average, seven people show up to class each day we have it, and it's usually a different group of seven each time, minus this one kid and myself. A friend of mine skipped one day and I asked her why. She said she had so much to do, she didn't have time to go to his class.
Excuse me? You're paying for 18 credits, only taking 16.5 and you're jipping yourself of the time you SHOULD be getting in class because you have too much to do? So i'm sitting here like I'm supposed to, trying to EARN my grade fairly and properly, and you're off doing some other class's homework because you didn't feel like working on it the night before. Good job.
Another thing that pisses me off is when the same person asks me every day what's due for class. This kid, I'll name him Dan, never talks to me. Ever. When he does, it's only because he wants to know what's due for class. One time he asked me on Facebook (again with the social networking sites, aye), and annoyed I replied with, "Are you serious?" He answers back, seemingly angry with, "Yea i am serious wat the hell is due?!" Not only did I lash out, telling him never to curse at me again, but I told him flat out, "Instead of sitting on your damn laptop for the hour and twenty minutes that we are there playing dumb motocross games, looking at your photography as if the pictures are going to perform magic, and watching BMX videos, maybe you can pay attention for once and TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES." He apologized to me and didn't speak to me for a week.
The following week he was back at it, but instead of asking me, he asked another friend of mine who has the same teacher for the same class, just different days.
I don't mind telling people what's due for class, but when they ask me for every class day what they need to have done and whatnot, it gets to be aggravating. I'm sorry you find his class boring, I'm sorry you hate him, and I'm sorry you have "too much" to do, but really...
I may put my liberal arts classes behind my studio classes, but that doesn't mean I treat them any less. I EARN my grades the RIGHT way. I don't try to manipulate my teacher because he's a little TOO easy-going. Each time I sit down with him to discuss a paper I had written and he tells me that my paper is well-written, I can hear it in his voice that he's also appreciative that I'm taking the time to talk about it -- that shows that I give a hoot about his class. My prof isn't stupid -- he knows all of the people that sit on their laptops in class (which is about 98% of the class) are NOT taking notes. He KNOWS that. He even told us during class one day. Some kids try to be slick and they "take notes" (open up a blank document in MS Word) while looking through Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc. I don't even take my laptop out because I feel guilty, considering my prof pointed at me one day and said aloud, "Thank you for answering that, I know YOU pay attention." So guess what~ I take notes the old-fashioned way -- pencil and paper.
Basically the point of my rant is: if you're not going to perform up to standards, don't complain about the outcome.
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