Clusterf**k
Hot damn, what a couple days.
Sunday was lovely, we took Teacee to the beach (pics will come when I finish the role, so sometime between now and Christmas, I assume). It was beautiful, and much cooler than town, and a good way to spend a quiet day before all hell broke loose, which it has.
I have started the courses for the education program. They have taken a bunch of 11 week courses, and scrunched them into 4 weeks, and then told us to take them all at the same time.
Because they love us.
Well, last Friday we had Orientation, and those of us who are interested in endorsements for teaching two areas - which I am... Social Studies and Japanese - were told to wait until said orientation to learn what to do. 3 days before classes started. They only told us about it Friday, because in past years it "has been a problem" to wait and figure it out once classes start. Aren't they thoughtful!
So they told us that we would have to take a couple extra courses. OK, fine, that's what I expected. Problem being, all the flipping courses are taught at the same 2 flipping times. Yep, that's right folks! They couldn't space them out by even one freaking hour!!!!
Since the class requirements are so specific, they set all of us up into groups and we were told EXACTLY which courses to take at which times. But then Friday, we were told that if we want any combo of Social Studies, Science, or Language endorsements, we would have to drop a required course, and take a methods course this summer (because they are both taught at the same time). And hope that we can fit the required course back in somewhere else, but they had NO FREAKING INFO about where or when that might be.
Because remember, they teach all the classes at the same times. So I can't just assume that the course I had to drop (Law in education) won't conflict with other requirements later.
And then today, the other shoe dropped. The course I had to add not only conflicts with Law, it also conflicts with Adolescent Studies. Seriously. And the department never freaking told us, we had to figure it out and tell them.
Oh, but it gets better. The second course conflicts with even more required stuff this fall, so I have to add another course on now to open up a slot next term. That's right folks, it slices, dices and cleans the cat box!
So when I went to add this other course this afternoon (which I had only found out about myself, about 20 minutes before the class was supposed to start, because of 3 other students in the same situation), I couldn't add it, as I am now over my 16 credit limit. Because in order to finish my Poli Sci thesis this term, I also have to carry 3 PS credits. And the school of Ed thinks that 16 is all we should be allowed to take at once.
And normally I would agree, but dammit if they haven't figured this shit out in however many years they have been running this program, then they are just going to have to make a freaking exception for some of us. I think the part that is making my eyes roll uncontrollably, is that this has apparently happened every. damn. year. And they couldn't even tell us what classes to switch to - we had to figure all the administrative bs out (on top of the 6 hours of reading and 4 classes I had yesterday) then let the admini-freaking-strators know what is going on.
This program, here at the U of O, is top rated. And by that I mean top 5 in the country, top 3 in special ed. VERY respected. VERY competitive admissions. I shudder to consider what students in less well-funded programs must go through.
Sunday was lovely, we took Teacee to the beach (pics will come when I finish the role, so sometime between now and Christmas, I assume). It was beautiful, and much cooler than town, and a good way to spend a quiet day before all hell broke loose, which it has.
I have started the courses for the education program. They have taken a bunch of 11 week courses, and scrunched them into 4 weeks, and then told us to take them all at the same time.
Because they love us.
Well, last Friday we had Orientation, and those of us who are interested in endorsements for teaching two areas - which I am... Social Studies and Japanese - were told to wait until said orientation to learn what to do. 3 days before classes started. They only told us about it Friday, because in past years it "has been a problem" to wait and figure it out once classes start. Aren't they thoughtful!
So they told us that we would have to take a couple extra courses. OK, fine, that's what I expected. Problem being, all the flipping courses are taught at the same 2 flipping times. Yep, that's right folks! They couldn't space them out by even one freaking hour!!!!
Since the class requirements are so specific, they set all of us up into groups and we were told EXACTLY which courses to take at which times. But then Friday, we were told that if we want any combo of Social Studies, Science, or Language endorsements, we would have to drop a required course, and take a methods course this summer (because they are both taught at the same time). And hope that we can fit the required course back in somewhere else, but they had NO FREAKING INFO about where or when that might be.
Because remember, they teach all the classes at the same times. So I can't just assume that the course I had to drop (Law in education) won't conflict with other requirements later.
And then today, the other shoe dropped. The course I had to add not only conflicts with Law, it also conflicts with Adolescent Studies. Seriously. And the department never freaking told us, we had to figure it out and tell them.
Oh, but it gets better. The second course conflicts with even more required stuff this fall, so I have to add another course on now to open up a slot next term. That's right folks, it slices, dices and cleans the cat box!
So when I went to add this other course this afternoon (which I had only found out about myself, about 20 minutes before the class was supposed to start, because of 3 other students in the same situation), I couldn't add it, as I am now over my 16 credit limit. Because in order to finish my Poli Sci thesis this term, I also have to carry 3 PS credits. And the school of Ed thinks that 16 is all we should be allowed to take at once.
And normally I would agree, but dammit if they haven't figured this shit out in however many years they have been running this program, then they are just going to have to make a freaking exception for some of us. I think the part that is making my eyes roll uncontrollably, is that this has apparently happened every. damn. year. And they couldn't even tell us what classes to switch to - we had to figure all the administrative bs out (on top of the 6 hours of reading and 4 classes I had yesterday) then let the admini-freaking-strators know what is going on.
This program, here at the U of O, is top rated. And by that I mean top 5 in the country, top 3 in special ed. VERY respected. VERY competitive admissions. I shudder to consider what students in less well-funded programs must go through.
posted by a duck at 6:34 PM
3 comments
