Another College thread Math and Ridiculousness

[SportinGoods]

I haven't posted in a ridiculously long time, and a lot of it has to do with being busy at work and with school.

I know that GPA's were gone over in a previous thread, as well as entitlement whores. but I'd like to share an awesome experience with all of you.

My first day of this "remedial" math class that I'm taking for catch up included the instructor bringing her 7 year old child, and another student bringing her screaming two year old(who threw a ridiculously loud tantrum both inside the class and out in the hallway, can't blame the kid, bringing a child who isn't even in pre-school to a class must be really boring for them) to class. I understand some students in the class have had this teacher before, but I had a different teacher. I had a professor who was organized, extremely clear on the material and taught in a way that I now know is the clearest way possible to teach math.

Now I'm all for children knowing what their mothers career is, and to give this kid the credit she deserves, she was extremely quiet during class and just drew on the white board during the lecture. It's not the child I have a problem with at all, it's the teacher. First we are given a half ass-ed lecture the first three days, and when we go into our math lab we are given work to complete which hasn't been discussed in class, and isn't clear in the study guide. All hope is not lost, for I have access to you tube, which apparently is > college professors and teaches me how to do the equations we are given.

We are asked to write an essay every week on what we learned and what we are still having problems grasping (I thought I enrolled in a math class, not an English class, in fact the whole reason I LIKE math is because it doesn't ask me to explain how I FEEL about the equation, now I encounter a teacher who wants me to do that, wtf.) I email my paper (I do not own a printer, nor will I with the accumulated cost of books, gas, phone and car insurance bills, and groceries that I have to decide "will I pay my phone bill, will I eat rice for a week" to pay) This is the e-mail I get in response.

"Please print your papers and bring them to class. Sending them to me just makes me have to print them out to give back to you. In an emergency situation, this method works OK but try to print your own please. Ms. W"

I MAKE you have to print papers? OH LORD WHAT AN INCONVENIENCE. I never asked for my papers to be returned, logically if I have attached a file to send to you, I have the copy on my computer. If there is something wrong with this paper I will figure it out I'm sure.

Now maybe I'm just a social retard, and I am being unfair to this new math professor, and maybe I am completely biased by my first weeks impression. We were given study guides which she didn't have faith in "whoever made these had good intentions but may have been misguided" , lectured on material that wasn't being covered in our concurrent lab activities, and anyone who wasn't in her previous class is left completely in the dark as to how we are supposed to learn what we are supposed to be working on. Thus ends my rant on teachers.

I do not have my education paid for by the government.
I have no financial "fall back" if this fails.

This is not meant to be racial, in any way. But to state this quite bluntly as I understand it, is that the government favors those who procreate irresponsibly. Don't know who your baby's daddy is? No problem here's some money for school. Baby's daddy ran out on you? No problem here's some money for school.

I am 25 years old, I have no children, I am not married. I have to maintain a 3.5 GPA to get $300 from the government in financial aid (My average book bill per semester is $450). In order to perform(and pay for) at least an 80% capacity in my classes I have to work 30 hours a week at a minimum wage job(Grats California for the largest percentage of overeducated, over qualified minimum wage employees in the nation). If I wasn't living back home, I wouldn't be able to get an education.

Minimum wage is the predominant employment a college student can find because of schedule requirements, but minimum wage cannot keep up with the cost of living. Average income of a minimum wage employee(full time, which doesn't give you enough time to actually attend school)? $1280 before taxes, average cost of an apartment in California? $ 800 a month. Add car insurance, and a phone and your left with about $100 a month to spend on FOOD for survival and whatever else you can afford.

The poverty line in CA is $10,000 and below, so all childless college students who cannot obtain race specific, or gender specific scholarships fall under this category.

So my rant ends with this, our system is broken. While succeeding in giving others who would not neccissarily have the means to attend a good college, those who continue to work hard get kicked in the nuts, and are financially denied an education.
Our system is broken.

[AFPheonix]

Is there a computer lab on campus where you can email yourself your essays and print them off? That's what I've always done with lab reports since I'm a cheap beyotch.

But essays? In math? What the hell math class is this? I think MAYBE we had some projects that involved text in stats but that was expected. I have never had to do such a thing in any other math class I've ever taken, and I don't recall my husband having to do anything like that either, and he was a math minor. I lucked out and only had to go through Calc I.

On the bright side you can be nice and ungracious when evaluations are done at class end.

[Boozy]

This is not meant to be racial, in any way. But to state this quite bluntly as I understand it, is that the government favors those who procreate irresponsibly. Don't know who your baby's daddy is? No problem here's some money for school. Baby's daddy ran out on you? No problem here's some money for school.

Why did you mention that "this is not meant to be racial", and then talk about a problem that has nothing to do with race? Deadbeat dads and promiscuous sex are problems that cross racial lines. I'm assuming you felt that others might jump to conclusions based on the issue you were talking about. Maybe you're right. If so, that's kind of sad.

Back on topic - I can't believe you have to write essays in math class. Is there someone you can speak to about your instructors and their methods? You don't have time for pointless busy-work.

[Sylvia727]

I signed up for a math class, supposedly the easiest (liberal arts major, here). The teacher told us that we would only be writing essays; that would be every homework assignment. I didn't understand a word in his lectures, the textbook, or the course sylabus. And my classmates who "got" his teaching style mocked me; after all, shouldn't a liberal arts major do better with essays, not worse? I dropped that course ASAP, and the Calculus course I took instead was just as easy as the remedial course should have been.

So I feel your pain on the essays. As someone else has suggested, email the assigments to yourself and print them at a computer lab or the library. If those locations charge per sheet, maybe another teacher or secretary somewhere is friendly to you?

[SportinGoods]

Why did you mention that "this is not meant to be racial", and then talk about a problem that has nothing to do with race? Deadbeat dads and promiscuous sex are problems that cross racial lines. I'm assuming you felt that others might jump to conclusions based on the issue you were talking about. Maybe you're right. If so, that's kind of sad.

Back on topic - I can't believe you have to write essays in math class. Is there someone you can speak to about your instructors and their methods? You don't have time for pointless busy-work.

Poor choice of words on my part.

[Boozy]

Poor choice of words on my part.

Yeah, after I posted I got thinking that was all it was.

Something else I was thinking about: Does your school have a bursary program for financial aid? My school had one where all you needed to do was fill in some forms with your income, and if it was low enough, they'd throw a bit of money at you. Not much, but a few hundred bucks can make a big difference when you're paying for textbooks. And unlike government programs, they didn't care about your living situation, ie single parent, employed or unemployed.

[blas87]

I feel for you. I graduated with a 3.0 if that means anything, I have to work 40 hours a week (although most of the time, more than that) to make ends meet, I have been refused financial aid because they refuse to believe my parents aren't helping me out.....they asked for my parents' yearly salaries even though I am INDEPENDENT...and said NO. They even said I MYSELF make too much money......tell that to my gas tank and kitchen cabinets!

Yet some girl who got knocked up at 16 gets free college and refugees get free college around here. It's really not fair. There is no "middle class white girl with no kids" college fund.

Newflash: Not everyone's parents help out with college. My parents refuse to give me one red cent to help. No one is helping me. Looks like I will have to take out loans that I will be paying off until I am nearly 40 years old JUST to go to college.

The only way I'm going to get any help with paying for college is having a kid. Gee, thanks a lot. Sure gives young women an incentive to think about their future and be responsible! Punish me for daring to be a responsible adult and thinking about consequences of actions!

This really wasn't meant as a jab, as I do have friends with children...but it does irritate me that they have a free ride throughout college and here I sit....going nowhere....all because I don't have enough money, I was refused financial aid, and I don't have a kid.

[Giggle Goose]

Whooooa. No one gets more burned up about this crap than me.

I tell people I have student loans to pay off and they look at me like: (deer in the headlights) when I tell them my parents didn't give me money for college. I also had to pay my own rent.

The way the economy is right now; I'd probably have to drop out if I wanted to live on my own like I was. SG is totally right. It's impossible to work and support yourself on minimum wage jobs when you're going to school; but because of the hours you can work it's really your only choice.

[jedimaster91]

Here here! I was fortunate to live at home and have my parents help out with my college tuition. And thankfully, my husband makes enough money that we can still (mostly) pay our bills, even with the drastic cuts I've had to make in my hours because of school.

I was also denied financial aid after we got married because we are smart enough to be setting aside some money in case one of us loses a job. So, on paper, we have plenty of money to use for my college education (and hubby's Masters as well), but in reality, that money is sitting in a savings account and we're praying we never have to use it.

It's so wonderful how the government rewards responsible individuals, innit? *rolls eyes*

[Slytovhand]

Down in this part of the world, things are a little different - though not by much.

Again, irresponsible = spoonfed.

Our education supplements for full-time students puts one below the poverty line, and to make things even more ridiculously worse, when I was going through uni a few years ago, if I was under 25 years old, I could get a supplemental payment called Rent Assistance, but since I was over 25, I wasn't entitled to it... what - if your younger, you are supposed to move away from your parents place, but you go back there once you're older and don't pay rent???

As for your wonderful story regarding teaching methods, I'd be putting in an email about not understanding how said person can be teaching - and how that creates problems that you are having difficulty grasping.

[AdminAssistant]

"Please print your papers and bring them to class. Sending them to me just makes me have to print them out to give back to you. In an emergency situation, this method works OK but try to print your own please. Ms. W"

I MAKE you have to print papers? OH LORD WHAT AN INCONVENIENCE. I never asked for my papers to be returned, logically if I have attached a file to send to you, I have the copy on my computer. If there is something wrong with this paper I will figure it out I'm sure.

I'm a TA - and I have a feeling that your instructor may be one, too. (If not, she's probably a lecturer). I can only speak for the school I'm at now - but I don't get a printer or free printing (except what's also available to students). There are two papers due in my class, and I was very clear that printing the papers was not my job. That's up to the students to deal with. It's a pain - but you are the student. Having a hard copy probably helps her in terms of grading and bookkeeping.

As to why the assignment - universities are desperate to get their students writing better. The administrations pass down requirements to the faculty, requiring so many pages of writing from each student. That may be why you're writing an essay. Also, the essays seem like they're geared towards helping her with her teaching method.

Sorry to side with your instructor so much, but I've had a pretty horrific first few weeks as a TA and I know how it feels to walk frazzled into a classroom. The first step in situations like this is always to ask the instructor if you could have a quick meeting. Express your concerns to her, and your difficulties. It will help her and you.

[anriana]

My partner worked full-time at Wal-Mart for minimum wage while going to school full-time and living in a shitty apartment after his mother kicked him out of her life. Yeah, it sucked for two years and he has loans to pay, but he still got his education.

I don't understand saying "I can't work full time and go to school full time" when I know many people who do. Roughly half the people on third shift at my current job (40 hours a week, no exceptions) are also taking classes full time. There's a lot of doing homework over lunch breaks and not a lot of after work socializing, but it's not at all impossible.

That said, writing an essay a week in math class is stupid.

[Flyndaran]

...
I don't understand saying "I can't work full time and go to school full time" when I know many people who do. ...

Many people can run a mile, so what? Not everyone can overwork themselves to that degree.
Just because "you" have higher thresholds for stress than "I", does not give you the right to insult "me".

[Greenday]

Many people can run a mile, so what? Not everyone can overwork themselves to that degree.
Just because "you" have higher thresholds for stress than "I", does not give you the right to insult "me".

That's how I look at it. I can do upper level chemistry and rocket science. Doesn't mean anyone else can.

[linguist]

I don't understand saying "I can't work full time and go to school full time" when I know many people who do. Roughly half the people on third shift at my current job (40 hours a week, no exceptions) are also taking classes full time. There's a lot of doing homework over lunch breaks and not a lot of after work socializing, but it's not at all impossible.

so does that make me a lesser person that i can't? that when i tried i worked myself right into the hospital with exhaustion and a host of other stress-related illnesses?

in the long run i did more harm than good, as i not only lost my paycheck during my time in the hospital but i also had to take a medical withdrawal for the semester due to all the class i missed, necessitating taking (and paying for) all those classes over again.

that's why i don't work and go to school full time.