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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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The Psychology of Presence
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I finished college two years ago, and it was not a very pleasant experience.
It was bad enough that, to this day, while having the desire for a second
degree, I would never seriously consider returning to college.
I am a knowledge junkie. The popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web
would have people define this as someone addicted to the Web. But, I am
different. I hate the Web. Biology. Chemistry. Mathematics. Philosophy.
Psychology. Sociology. These are the subjects which interest me, and college
prevented me from learning them.
All colleges have a policy which stipulates that the grade one ultimately
receives must be based, in part, upon a certain pre-defined attendance
rate. In order to recieve a "C" in any class, you must attend at least
70% of the class sessions, regardless of all other factors. You may be
earning a perfect "A" in the class, but if you only attended 70% of the
lectures, you will be recieving a "C" instead.
On the surface, this seems like a reasonable policy. The more lectures you
attend, the more you will learn. The less you attend, the less you will
learn. But, this policy is seriously flawed, and it is destroying the
academic records of many students.
I do not restrict my learning solely to the classroom. While others can be
found in the local bookstore perusing the best-seller of the week, I can
be found in the science section debating whether I should buy a book on
chaos theory, or a book on human anatomy. If I am able, I purchase them
both, and eagerly run home to begin learning something new.
A student often registers for his next-semester class schedule several
months in advance. Being excited about learning a new subject, I would
often return to the bookstore to buy something along the lines of my
future class subjects. By the time I appeared for the first day of class,
I usually had a solid background on what was to come.
Instructors spend way too much time beating the same basic principles to
death. The class moves slowly as a result, and those who understood the
concept earlier are quickly bored. Those who understood it months earlier
become extremely bored. When a sharp student asks a thoughtful and
intelligent question on the topic at hand, and the rest of the class may
not understand it yet, the anger of others becomes readily apparant.
Some think you are just trying to show off. You lose faith in your ability
to learn what you need from the class. You start missing classes. Eventually,
you only do the homework and show for the tests.
I failed many classes in college. I failed the same philosophy class twice. I
failed because I never attended class. I completed all of the assignments on
time. I took every quiz and test. I read the entire textbook...twice. I often
called the instructor on weekends to debate very esoteric topics of
philosophy, ethics and society. She said she had learned a couple of things
from our debates. She said I knew my subject cold. At the end of the
semester, I had 997 out of 1000 possible points. I received an "F" in the
class based on my 28% attendance rate. She was upset that she was forced to
give me this grade.
This scenario played out in every class, every semester. Then I took
Psychology. On the first day of class, we filled out the basic questionaire
as to who we were, what we wanted to do with our lives, and what our
interests were. We turned them in, and after glancing through them, she
called a few students outside for a few minutes each. I was one of them.
"You don't belong here," she said. "Get out of here. See me during office
hours later this week."
Wondering what was going on, I went to her office a few days later. Why would
an instructor throw me out of her class without cause?
"You're too smart to be wasting away in this class. You stated your interest
was in medicine on your questionaire. I want you to read the textbook and
show up for all of the quizzes and tests. Other than that, I don't want to
see you in class. But, since the law requires a certain amount of hours in
the classroom to receive a grade, this is what we are going to do. You will
spend one hour for each hour of class you miss researching any topic you want
tying psychology with medicine. Then write me a report. Keep a log of your
hours. Agree?"
I could not believe what I was hearing. This was too good to be true! "Yes."
I said to her, and went home.
I did what was asked of me. I missed 51 hours of class, yet spent 132 hours
researching and writing a report on "The Psychology of Steroid Abuse in
Athletes." I received an "A" on every quiz and test. I received an "A" on my
report. I received an "A" in the class. I was ecstatic!
This instructor somehow recognized a student that shouldn't have been there.
She had an alternate idea, and it worked for the both of us. I had learned
more about psychology than any student could ever have learned by attending
every class and taking notes. And it gave me hope for my other classes.
The following semester I approached each of my instructors on the first day
of class with this idea in mind. None of them wanted to hear it. It was
ludicrous to them. I had to attend class or fail. End of story.
By definition, the grade of "A" means "demonstrated mastery of the course
subject and material." Colleges don't care about the definitions contained in
their own policy guidelines. So what if you are a master of "subject x" or
"subject y?" So what if you are doing "A" level work. You missed "x" number
of classes, so you are getting an "F." This is contrary to the definition of
"A" work. Where is the logic in this?
Smart students with a desire to learn are being destroyed by irrational
policies like attendance requirements. I graduated with a GPA of 2.02. I
should have graduated with a 3.80+ GPA. I received offers from almost every
one of my current, and previous, instructors for "Letters of Recommendation."
I became friends with many of my instructors, and even some I never took a
class from. But my desire for knowledge destroyed me. I was different. I
didn't conform. And I was punished for it.
se7en
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(11/23/96)