So apparently, telling students what's going on in the course has gone out of style. Gone the way of the dinosaur. Dead. Vanished. Mystically evaporated. Transformed like so many handfuls of daisies into a cote of doves which then proceed to flutter away..
ahem. Enough with the analogies. Back to topic.
I was surprised to learn (in all but one of my classes) that it is midterm week this week. Surprise! Yes indeed, my instructors managed to schedule and write up their midterm exams all in one week without letting us know! Isn't it wonderful?
This is not the only instance of what has become a group of very tight-lipped instructors here at <THE UNIVERSITY I ATTEND, subsequently referred to as MyUni>. In my current business course, our teacher has decided that putting all the stuff we need to do for each class on the back of the course outline is enough. This isn't horrible on its own, but it can get annoying if, say, you have work to do in other courses and happen to forget to check the schedule one day. It doesn't really help that she neglects to send out emails or course announcements either. I often have to read whole chapters in one sitting without taking satisfactory notes. I'm eagerly awaiting the day I'll come to class greeted by the following sentence: "Hello everyone, I hope you remembered to bring in your assignments today!" Surprise!! *gulp*
My current elective is the worst for this. The instructor (we'll call him "Doctor Negligent") put downloads of the Research Paper and Unit Assignment (which all happen to be research papers as well, though cleverly disguised as something fun, new, and creative) outlines online, and essentially never mentioned them again. "Oh, by the way, your next unit assignment is due next class." SURPRISE!!! I don't even know if I have a Midterm in that class, much less when it is.. I didn't end up doing the 1st unit assignment for 2 reasons... The 1st is that we had another assignment IN THE SAME CLASS given out right at the beginning of the year, and it was due LATER than the first UA. The 2nd is that he actually did remind us about this one.. the week before it was due. I didn't feel like doing a paper in 1 week, especially since... well, 2 more reasons. 1) I have other classes. 2) we only have to do 3/5 UA's. *relieved sigh* I do find it annoying that Doctor Negligent has a Research Paper assigned basically over the entire semester, while simultaneously giving out UA's due periodically--but not regularly--over the semester, while, at the same time, assigning long readings which aren't the least bit interesting and only telling us who wrote them, and the title once AND expecting us to be able to find this thing online.. "Oh, I think you read the wrong article by Avery Boring. You were supposed to read the one on the long-term psychological effects of post-secondary education, not the short-term effects." SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!
Well, it just goes to show you how very important every course thinks it is. Especially electives that you basically have no choice on whatsoever. "You get to choose between this course, and this other course that sounds exactly the same." "Um, I'll pick the second one. It sounds slightly less arduous." <LATER> "Uh oh, I was wrong."
What am I going to say now? Yup, you got it.
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