Education isn't just about what they teach me in class... | mollyb1972's Blog

Today was my 2nd day of classes.  My first class this morning was English Comp I. 

I actually thought I would breeze through English Comp I and II (I'll take that next semester). I've already taken them.  It was years ago but I aced both of them.  Instead I found that I very well may be challenged through this class...and that excites me! 

My 2nd class today is Philosophy "Critical Thinking" with a text book titled the same.  Once I knew I was taking a Philosophy class my mind blocked out any other thought processes other than Aristotle.  Rousseau.  Plato.  I truly thought I would be walking into my class studying these wonderful guys.  While I sort of enjoy and appreciate philosophy - and philosophers - I can only handle so much before I get bored.  Instead I walked into a class where the professor's first request was that we write down three facts about ourselves.  Two will be the truth and one will be a lie.  While we were writing down our "facts" he took role call.  His next request was that we form groups of three or four and talk.  That's it.  Talk.  Ten minutes later he went around the class and made each of us introduce ourselves and tell the class our "facts" and the rest of us were to guess which was the lie.  It was fun and I liked it.  Turns out this class isn't about Aristotle or Plato or Rousseau - it's about learning how to (and I quote the professor) "Argue effectively."  How fucking cool is that?  Now THAT is something I can dive into and love! 

So now about the education I be gettin' NOT from classes.  All of our professors have rules.  The rule about texting and talking on the phone are basically the same - Don't Do It  - but there are some variables throughout the three classes I've had so far.  Math professor says it's a NO GO.  The only exception is an emergency.  By emergency he means someone is sick, in the hospital, etc...not "OMG!  MY boyfriend dumped me!" emergency.  If you take a call that is a non-emergency or get caught texting - you will be counted as absent.  The English professor has basically the same rule but she is leaving it to her discretion as to how she will handle it at the time of the offense.  The Philosophy guy says - "Whatever.  Don't disrupt my class.  If you gotta take a call go out in the hall.  NO TEXTING." 

I say...cool.  Unfortunately I have never seen so many people get so upset by something so minimal and SIMPLE in my life!  I mean, it's not like they asked us to saw our arms off!  These kids were so upset that they were still talking about it an hour later out on our smoke break.  One girl says to me, "What the hell?  He's too strict.  Doesn't he know lots of us have kids?"  My response to that was "What does that have to do with anything?"  We engaged in dialog where I ultimately explained to her that if their kids couldn't wait until break or class is over to chit chat or text with their mommies than we have much bigger problems than rules about cell phones in class.  Again - if it is an emergency - send the "911 Emergency" text and take care of business.  If they send the "911 Emergency" text and it turns out that it isn't really an emergency it's time for Mommy to explain that she, herself, is in class and can not be interrupted unless it's a life or death emergency.  WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?  And why is that so hard for them to explain to their own kids?  Why is this EVEN A BIG DEAL?

Ultimately it got me thinking about how different I really am from the rest of the world.  I know everyone says that - everyone DOES say that - but I really do not understand all of this making mountains out of molehills bullshit.  Why do people create drama where there wasn't drama to begin with? Now, am I different than these people because I'm older than them?  Am I different from them because I'm a military girl?  Am I different because my own parents raised me to be different?  Or am I different because my life experiences have put me down a different route which ultimately changed the way I look at, well, at life?

Interesting...to say the least.  I predict this experience will be fun, stressful, sometimes irritating, but I predict it will NEVER be boring!

And so in my very anti-social state I've made an honest attempt at being a social person again.  Or at least semi-social.  I wasn't always anti-social.  In fact I was once quite the social butterfly but than life threw me some curve balls, one after the other and I turned inward and found I enjoy my own company over that of others.  But I AM trying and I've done OK for the first few days.  On break in between classes I met a 19 year old Russian girl who is studying to be a nurse.  She came over here her senior year of high school. graduated from a private school and is now going to college.  I found her refreshing, smart, different, interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed our short visit. 

Maybe this whole going (back) to school again, and doing it in such a way I'm interacting with people young enough to be my babies, will in fact be a learning experience in and of itself.  And maybe it's just what the doctor ordered to get me out of the black hole I seemed to be falling into. 

Molly's baaaaack!