The Year in Review
or On the Fallacy of a College Education
What a year. This year, I finally penetrated the myth of genius surrounding college degrees. This year, I took a stand against the bullshit that surrounds our state and federal education policies. This year, I grabbed my own education by the balls, wrestled it to the ground, and made it my bitch. This year, I cut the red tape that was stopping so many people from getting help with their network and computer issues around campus. This year, I was awarded history's highest paid summer work study position ever here at Marian College.
This has been the Year of Josh.
This, the year of disillusionment! You college students, I'm talking to you now. Maybe you were smart enough to do what I did a long time ago. Little good it does any of us. Look around you. We're all surrounded by idiots. College degrees aren't earned as much as bought anymore. I don’t mean to demean anyone’s efforts – God knows that everyone I associate with puts 110% into their work – but is the work you’re doing of a caliber that’s high enough to make it in the real world? How many students that apply to graduate school actually make it with the undergrad degrees that they already have under their belts? In the Mathematics Department at Purdue, I can tell you that that number is less than 10%. And these are the people that have actually been trying all along. In my naïveté, I believed that a college degree made a person rounder intellectually. Looking back, it seems like high school all over again: same game, new name.
This, the year of realization! There are probably a handful of you, dear readers, who could have taught in a public learning institution right out of high school. Yet do you know that most education students spend more time working on projects for EDU classes than they do on the homework for the classes in their areas of instruction? Did you know that methods of presentation are more important than the matter being presented? Did you know that no matter what, educational administrators always believe there is something more that a teacher could have done to get through to a student? If you didn’t, I’m sorry to make you dumber for listening to that retarded line of reasoning, but this is the philosophy that the Education Department here at Marian College teaches. (1). The state of Indiana lost another potential teacher when I left the ranks of the EDU Department this fall, and without trying to sound arrogant, I think they lost a valuable asset. It blows my mind that more people don’t reject such nonsensical standards and continue to take Instructional Methods classes at the expense of time that could be spent becoming more acquainted with the subject area in which the person wishes to teach. I would take a teacher who has poor organization and an astonishingly brilliant mind over a teacher who can fill out a lesson plan in a flash but can't properly raise a negative number to a power.
This, the year of reorganization! Having realized that the average college education is a scam, I decided to take things one step further. The rigor and intensity of grad school scares me, but I want to be one of the good ole boys. If that's what it takes, then it's just time to start taking independent studies and putting 110% into my current studies, tattooing every theorem and method onto my brain, restudying old textbooks for things I've since grown rusty on, and forging alliances both here and at Purdue. I've even dropped a few hints around the Mathematics offices here that I would like to come back and take on a lecturer/adjunct position soon, if they'll have me (and luckily, all of the responses have been overwhelmingly positive).
This, the year of consolidation! Power bases, as I mentioned, were either established or strengthened. Most importantly, the fat was cut. From friends to activities, life has been streamlined to better prepare for the coming half-decade or so. After moving all of my financial assets over to 1st Source last summer, I’ll be moving them down here to some other establishment that has a local presence. With the money I’ll be making this summer working with the Tech Department, I hope to be able to put away enough money to buy a new vehicle next spring (think gently used ’04 Impala (2)). Sarah joined me down here, making that aspect of my life much more comfortable and even happier.
There really isn’t much that could have gone better for me this year. I hope you, dear reader, have had an equally fulfilling year. Here's to an even better one next year.
Cheers.
(1) – Just yesterday, Rachel called. She told me that she was penalized drastically for turning in a unit plan that was “too computational.” Hmm…computations? In an Algebra II class? Wow. What was she thinking? Better yet, the professor told her that she was lacking peer revisions as a manner of assessment. I don’t know what school this witless woman taught at back in the day, but today, most high schools enforce a very strict policy of privacy around students’ grades. Nice job, Dr. Dumbfuck, you have violated school policy and taken the mathematics out of Algebra. Must have taken you years to earn that PhD.
(2) - You want to know why I want a Chevy Impala? Let me give you a hint:
Can you think of any vehicle that looks more likely to end up secretly being a Transformer? My life would be complete.
or On the Fallacy of a College Education
What a year. This year, I finally penetrated the myth of genius surrounding college degrees. This year, I took a stand against the bullshit that surrounds our state and federal education policies. This year, I grabbed my own education by the balls, wrestled it to the ground, and made it my bitch. This year, I cut the red tape that was stopping so many people from getting help with their network and computer issues around campus. This year, I was awarded history's highest paid summer work study position ever here at Marian College.
This has been the Year of Josh.
This, the year of disillusionment! You college students, I'm talking to you now. Maybe you were smart enough to do what I did a long time ago. Little good it does any of us. Look around you. We're all surrounded by idiots. College degrees aren't earned as much as bought anymore. I don’t mean to demean anyone’s efforts – God knows that everyone I associate with puts 110% into their work – but is the work you’re doing of a caliber that’s high enough to make it in the real world? How many students that apply to graduate school actually make it with the undergrad degrees that they already have under their belts? In the Mathematics Department at Purdue, I can tell you that that number is less than 10%. And these are the people that have actually been trying all along. In my naïveté, I believed that a college degree made a person rounder intellectually. Looking back, it seems like high school all over again: same game, new name.
This, the year of realization! There are probably a handful of you, dear readers, who could have taught in a public learning institution right out of high school. Yet do you know that most education students spend more time working on projects for EDU classes than they do on the homework for the classes in their areas of instruction? Did you know that methods of presentation are more important than the matter being presented? Did you know that no matter what, educational administrators always believe there is something more that a teacher could have done to get through to a student? If you didn’t, I’m sorry to make you dumber for listening to that retarded line of reasoning, but this is the philosophy that the Education Department here at Marian College teaches. (1). The state of Indiana lost another potential teacher when I left the ranks of the EDU Department this fall, and without trying to sound arrogant, I think they lost a valuable asset. It blows my mind that more people don’t reject such nonsensical standards and continue to take Instructional Methods classes at the expense of time that could be spent becoming more acquainted with the subject area in which the person wishes to teach. I would take a teacher who has poor organization and an astonishingly brilliant mind over a teacher who can fill out a lesson plan in a flash but can't properly raise a negative number to a power.
This, the year of reorganization! Having realized that the average college education is a scam, I decided to take things one step further. The rigor and intensity of grad school scares me, but I want to be one of the good ole boys. If that's what it takes, then it's just time to start taking independent studies and putting 110% into my current studies, tattooing every theorem and method onto my brain, restudying old textbooks for things I've since grown rusty on, and forging alliances both here and at Purdue. I've even dropped a few hints around the Mathematics offices here that I would like to come back and take on a lecturer/adjunct position soon, if they'll have me (and luckily, all of the responses have been overwhelmingly positive).
This, the year of consolidation! Power bases, as I mentioned, were either established or strengthened. Most importantly, the fat was cut. From friends to activities, life has been streamlined to better prepare for the coming half-decade or so. After moving all of my financial assets over to 1st Source last summer, I’ll be moving them down here to some other establishment that has a local presence. With the money I’ll be making this summer working with the Tech Department, I hope to be able to put away enough money to buy a new vehicle next spring (think gently used ’04 Impala (2)). Sarah joined me down here, making that aspect of my life much more comfortable and even happier.
There really isn’t much that could have gone better for me this year. I hope you, dear reader, have had an equally fulfilling year. Here's to an even better one next year.
Cheers.
(1) – Just yesterday, Rachel called. She told me that she was penalized drastically for turning in a unit plan that was “too computational.” Hmm…computations? In an Algebra II class? Wow. What was she thinking? Better yet, the professor told her that she was lacking peer revisions as a manner of assessment. I don’t know what school this witless woman taught at back in the day, but today, most high schools enforce a very strict policy of privacy around students’ grades. Nice job, Dr. Dumbfuck, you have violated school policy and taken the mathematics out of Algebra. Must have taken you years to earn that PhD.
(2) - You want to know why I want a Chevy Impala? Let me give you a hint:
Can you think of any vehicle that looks more likely to end up secretly being a Transformer? My life would be complete.
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