College makes people cry

[Demon_Skeith]

I know this because, I have cried and I hear kids as they talk about how they gone home and cried simply because there not getting what the teachers are saying.

I have only two classes this semester, two coding classes which covers Microsoft visual basics and Cobol programming and I want ram my head through the nearest wall. Whats worse is this is only a community college, not a full blown real college.

As midterms finish, I am getting a F in one class and I believe a F in the other (Wouldn't know since the freaking teacher hasn't graded any projects submitted so far.) and it's shaking my resolve to stay in this whole damn college shit.


Yeah, end rant. Sorry to anyone looking forward to college. There is no joy in it.

 

[GreyHelm]

I know this because, I have cried and I hear kids as they talk about how they gone home and cried simply because there not getting what the teachers are saying.

I have only two classes this semester, two coding classes which covers Microsoft visual basics and Cobol programming and I want ram my head through the nearest wall. Whats worse is this is only a community college, not a full blown real college.

As midterms finish, I am getting a F in one class and I believe a F in the other (Wouldn't know since the freaking teacher hasn't graded any projects submitted so far.) and it's shaking my resolve to stay in this whole damn college shit.


Yeah, end rant. Sorry to anyone looking forward to college. There is no joy in it.

College sucks, almost everyone who goes ends up learning that lesson. The problem is, the teachers (if you can call them that) know their material VERY WELL. However, they have absolutely NO CLUE how to teach it to others. They know what they're saying, but many of them lack the ability to convey the knowledge to the listeners. You want to know how to pass your classes and actually learn the material?

The only way to stay on top is to take the initiative on your own, to go over the material on your own time and basically teach yourself while also following along in class. You need to make friends who actually understand what's going on, and you need to become their best buddy for the remnant of the semester. You need to watch youtube videos that break down the processes (this saved me from failing multivariable calculus) in a way that you can actually follow.

The long and short of it is, once you're in college the days of just showing up and passing with little effort are done and gone. If it makes you feel any better, my first semester was an unmitigated disaster. But you adapt, you learn, and you get the better of it.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I completely agree, it's the teachers. Though it's better to call them hired knowledge since we're the ones paying them and not the state or government. And the teachers are bad in my two classes, they are nice people but yeah, not good at their job.

Teacher 1: Spends more time talking about off topic stuff than teaching class. Will help out one student with a problem when the whole class is having the same problem. Is too busy to be a college teacher.

Teacher 2: She does a good job explaining, but it's hard to take in all at once. So what does she do? Oh yes, assigns us homework which she can give little help on until after we turn it in and lose a bunch of class points. So in short, lecture, homework, lecture, homework rinse and repeat. Where is the freaking class work that will show we don't understand something?!

 

[GreyHelm]

I completely agree, it's the teachers. Though it's better to call them hired knowledge since we're the ones paying them and not the state or government. And the teachers are bad in my two classes, they are nice people but yeah, not good at their job.

Teacher 1: Spends more time talking about off topic stuff than teaching class. Will help out one student with a problem when the whole class is having the same problem. Is too busy to be a college teacher.

Teacher 2: She does a good job explaining, but it's hard to take in all at once. So what does she do? Oh yes, assigns us homework which she can give little help on until after we turn it in and lose a bunch of class points. So in short, lecture, homework, lecture, homework rinse and repeat. Where is the freaking class work that will show we don't understand something?!

I've had both of those types, and they were both infuriating. Type 1 was more annoying than anything, she constantly drifted off topic and then at the end of the semester she held us responsible for everything, including the things she barely even touched on because of her squirrel-like attention span. Plus she had a really annoying way of talking and was ugly as shit, that didn't affect the teaching but it made her even harder to stand.

Type 2, that's something you have to take the initiative to address. Meet her after class and ask if it would be possible to go over some homework stuff together in class so you can understand the material. It's amazing how much you can figure out after something as simple as just going over the problems together and seeing where you went wrong. If it's not possible to meet with her for whatever reason, try emailing her. 90% of the time they'll answer, and if you make it clear that it's not just you having the issues, it's almost a given she'll do something to help the problem.

 

[Lleyn]

My teacher was pretty good to be honest. He constantly pushed us to innovate in our work and was always available if you needed some extra explanations. I think the problem is with younger teachers with barely any experience.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I need your teachers mori.

Well she isn't ugly, but her looks lie about her age. I swear she was someone old enough for grandchildren but her parents are still alive and she has young kids.

And my second teacher said to bring my stuff to her so she can look it over, but at a F grade I fear things are too late. Specially since FAFSA will no doubt be on me with the failing grades

FAFSA is my finical aid from the government.

 

[GreyHelm]

My teacher was pretty good to be honest. He constantly pushed us to innovate in our work and was always available if you needed some extra explanations. I think the problem is with younger teachers with barely any experience.

With technical majors, the problem is usually that the teachers are hired based on their knowledge of the subject matter and little else. For instance, I had a professor who had numerous degrees in engineering, was considered a highly regarded expert in the field, but who was one of the worst teachers I've ever encountered. Like seriously, it was appalling. A student ended up getting into a shouting match with him once and security had to be called before the situation could escalate.

 

[GreyHelm]

I need your teachers mori.

Well she isn't ugly, but her looks lie about her age. I swear she was someone old enough for grandchildren but her parents are still alive and she has young kids.

And my second teacher said to bring my stuff to her so she can look it over, but at a F grade I fear things are too late. Specially since FAFSA will no doubt be on me with the failing grades

FAFSA is my finical aid from the government.

*shudders* I remember fafsa. My first semester I had an F and a D-, ended up with like a 1.9 gpa. Ended up losing my partial scholarship, a strong second semester wasn't enough to save me.

*Sorry about the double post, got caught up in painful memories*

 

[Demon_Skeith]

shit, that's all I needed to hear grey

but next semester I will be taking cisco home networking and web design. If I don't like one of those classes, game over. Everything I've done to go and do college would be for nothing and it's just fucking game over >_

 

[Lleyn]

With technical majors, the problem is usually that the teachers are hired based on their knowledge of the subject matter and little else. For instance, I had a professor who had numerous degrees in engineering, was considered a highly regarded expert in the field, but who was one of the worst teachers I've ever encountered. Like seriously, it was appalling. A student ended up getting into a shouting match with him once and security had to be called before the situation could escalate.

Security? How did they deal with it? I do hope them held the teacher down

 

[GreyHelm]

Security? How did they deal with it? I do hope them held the teacher down

It was actually pretty funny, the student was yelling into his face from like an inch away, like "YOUS DA DEVIL, MAN! GOD'S GOIN' TAKE CARE OF YOU!"

Security didn't even have to do anything, by the time the fat shits showed up the dude had already kicked over 2 desks and stormed out. They followed him to make sure he didn't kill anyone, I think he was an ex-marine.

@ DS It's not too late man, the second you believe that, it'll really be over. You can fight out of it. I still have some notes from those days, if necessary I will help you as much as I can. You need to keep fighting though.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I know, spring break is next week so after the week break I plan to make a bigger push towards the C- passing requirement.

But what really fucking boils my blood is, I'm spending hundreds of dollars and I WON'T BE USING ANY OF THIS!

Programming logic and design, cobol, IBM systemi database, MS visual basics (Well might need a bit of this.). None of that will help me as I go on to either fix computers or run websites!

And don't get me started on taking psychology and speech class >_

 

[GreyHelm]

I know, spring break is next week so after the week break I plan to make a bigger push towards the C- passing requirement.

But what really fucking boils my blood is, I'm spending hundreds of dollars and I WON'T BE USING ANY OF THIS!

Programming logic and design, cobol, IBM systemi database, MS visual basics (Well might need a bit of this.). None of that will help me as I go on to either fix computers or run websites!

And don't get me started on taking psychology and speech class

Yeah man it's amazing how little most of the stuff they try to teach you actually matters. I've used about 10% of what I was taught in college after graduating, and that's a generous estimate. But you need to use their "approved curriculum", which never factors in what you actually need to know.

On the bright side though, one day you'll be all finished and laughing at the suckers who still have to deal with that BS.

Oh and one more point, you haven't known rage until you had a psychology or philosophy prof who taught their class like it's your MAJOR, assigning ridiculous workloads that take time away from the classes you actually give a shit about. Those are the worst.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

their approved curriculum isn't good enough to use as T.P.

When or if I finish all this, I can only hope I can find a job. my cousin spent 4 years at a major college and still works at a grocery store that he has been working at since 17.

 

[Lleyn]

I hate speech classes >.< my asthmas doesn't help at all and they were pretty embarrassing >.

 

[GreyHelm]

their approved curriculum isn't good enough to use as T.P.

When or if I finish all this, I can only hope I can find a job. my cousin spent 4 years at a major college and still works at a grocery store that he has been working at since 17.

Honestly, it's very likely you'll find a good job that has nothing to do with your major. That's a common trend in my family, people with biomedical degrees who're real estate agents, etc. I mean look at me, Tech degree and I write! The thing it always boils down to is knowing people. You know people, you can get a great job. You don't and you're just another dude with a degree.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

luckily I passed that class with a C (failed on the test, lol a test for a talking class. just fail.)

Honestly, it's very likely you'll find a good job that has nothing to do with your major. That's a common trend in my family, people with biomedical degrees who're real estate agents, etc. I mean look at me, Tech degree and I write! The thing it always boils down to is knowing people. You know people, you can get a great job. You don't and you're just another dude with a degree.

a degree that will cost me years of life, health and money. And very possible my sanity.

 

[fantanoice]

The second half of my third year involved literally spending every waking moment trying to complete all the content for one of my classes. Mind you, this class involved handing in a portfolio of about 24 tasks, reflective pieces and a few other things. You had to complete 100% of it to pass the unit (and get a 50/100 grade). To get higher, you needed to extend the stuff from the classes. It was actually a great way of teaching, but hell was it a lot of work.

Anyway, about 4 weeks before the end of semester I had some real personal problems and despite my efforts, failed the unit through all the distress (I think I only got around 20 of the tasks done). I was so depressed and disheartened that I almost gave up, then and there.

Then I managed to get my work placement and doing that for a year really improved my skills and lifted my spirits. I guess there's always a second chance.

With regards to programming, DS, from experience, all I can say is the best way to get good at programming is to program. There's really no other way. Good ways to improve yourself if you find you don't know something is to write up a spike to outline what it is you don't know (eg: how do I write to a file in x programming language) and then complete that small task to close your knowledge gap. It's difficult to time manage if you have assignments that you don't understand, but trust me, they're good. You may even write something re-usable that you can use if your assignment.

Also, if you need help, you have to ask for it. This was a tough thing for me to get over, because I never asked any questions in school/Uni and only developed the habit when I started working. Basically, my instructions were that if I spent 15 minutes without progress, I had to get help, because looking at the screen wasn't going to make anything appear. Speak to your tutors, go on programming message boards, maybe shoot me a PM or post a topic here somewhere explaining your problem and I or somebody else may be able to lead you in the right direction.

Programming logic and design, cobol, IBM systemi database, MS visual basics (Well might need a bit of this.). None of that will help me as I go on to either fix computers or run websites!

Actually, it will.

With regards to fixing computers, you'll get a better understanding of the OS's architecture which may help with OS-specific problems. Also, with regards to websites, you do realise you have to code websites, right? To get any sort of decent website you need some functionality behind it, which means you should probably know some .Net, Javascript and/or Php to do it properly, opposed to just HTML and CSS which is just the stuff to make things appear and look pretty.

College sucks, almost everyone who goes ends up learning that lesson.

But I like Uni. D:

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I'm aware that I need to code websites, but as long as it don't require if computer language I should be good. (if statements for one example.)

 

[fantanoice]

If statements are pretty common. What happens when you want one thing to happen with one set of conditions and another thing to happen with another set of conditions?

I guess you could use a switch statement but that's basically the same thing.

What is it about if statements that trouble you?