Revoking My Previous Geek Announcement...

Ok so I have resisted moaning and complaining for the last two blogs I feel that I may now vent: While there are things I’m enjoying about the classes here, there are also things that slightly get on my nerves.

In my last blog I mentioned having a nice intellectual chat with one of my professors but what I didn't mention is how I felt afterwards: I was shocked. Shocked that I didn’t feel the same way after all my classes with her. In reality, I spend most of her classes frustrated at some of the inane comments that are made and the fact that you have to put your hand up in order to make any sort of input. It’s so much like school here sitting at desks in rows and having a professor basically teaching you, and I keep having to stop myself from just interjecting and speaking out as I’m used to doing back in Warwick seminars. While not all my classes are quite as extreme as this one, all of them definitely feel more like school rather than like university.

Another thing that I mentioned in my last blog was the extreme work load. While I’m used to having lots of reading to do, I am not used to doing strange tasks such as naming as the chapters of a book. Now while the book is brilliant and I absolutely love it (All Quiet on The Western Front: if you haven’t read it: Buy it. Read it. Now.), naming the chapters isn’t quite the intellectually stimulating sort of work that we’d be given at Warwick. In fact, the only work I think I was ever set at Warwick was either reading or essay writing, simple as that. While I did mention that the increased work load has its benefits, I do on occasion feel like a 16 year old studying for my GCSEs*.

Another problem with this school like atmosphere in class is the inability to debate. Now, anyone who knows me will know that I’m rather argumentative. And you should thus know that I am always right. Always. Despite this fact I loved moments in seminars last year where debates and opposing ideas came up and people were given the opportunity to not only express their ideas but also to defend them. So when expressing one of my ideas in my Black American Writers class my professor decided to play devil’s advocate and offered the alternative view. I, of course, instantly rebutted and defended my point. My professor looked terrified and instantly quaked and backed down. What’s with that? How can he be scared of me?! He’s the one who's supposed to be stimulating argument and debate for the sake of our education. Anyways, it was frustrating.

Another thing that Emily and I have noticed in some of our classes is that many of the points that we raise are ignored. Sometimes, they are then later brought up by another American student who gets all the praise. So, we have come to the conclusions that either a) they still don’t understand our accents or b) they’re just so mesmerised by our accents that they don’t hear a word we’re saying. Either way it’s frustrating. Don’t quite know how we’re going to manage when we have to give a presentation next week...

*Sorry American readers I know that means nothing to you... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Certificate_of_Secondary_Education