Blech. Double Blech.
Mar. 24th, 2005 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_ultharusLast night, I lost of respect for a professor for whom I didn't have much to begin with.
I've never seen eye-to-eye about my Romantics professor about a lot of things. Philosophically, especially, him being quite the deconstructionist. And in terms of the course itself, his requirements are stringent but vague: nothing turned in late, any missing assigments means a failure in the course, and he never explains things very well. He gets irritated when we don't show up, but is usually late himself.
Worst of all, the workload is impossible. It's his course which has been the reason I've been so far behind lately. The workload is double the Sir Gawain workload, which is fairly heavy.
Last night, now that I've read or am more than halfway through most of the major works for the class, our esteemed professor announced that he never expected us to read all the work. On the contrary, he expected us to read about half of it, and the rest he figured we'd just look up in Master Plots (the Big Book o' English Lit Spoilers), and bullshit our way through class.
He said, "Bullshitting is a useful skill for you to learn," and he even seemed to be suggesting that some people out there were writing Graduate theses without having read the work in question. He even said that you get less out of a book by reading it carefully!
I'm sorry. It's one thing to bullshit at the Undergrad level, because at that level you just want to see if a person can argue their points. They're generally not doing secondary research but rather learning how read carefully and organize their ideas. That's an Undergrad degree. If you can argue well, it really doesn't matter if you've read the material.
But there's a qualitative shift when you get to the Grad level. You're at the point where it's not about argument but about knowledge. Grad students get published. Their ideas gradually float out into academia, and some few of the more brilliant ideas even filter out into the general public, where they have an effect on society. Yes, even in a high-falutin' field like literature, there are thinkers whose ideas affect society.
And to ground all that on a lie -- to talk out of your ass -- is disgusting. I feel dirty just having been a part of that class, now. And as someone who's stayed up day and night actually doing the work, no matter how unreadable and dull the assignments, I want to know: why the fuck did you assign work that you didn't want us to do? If you wanted us to read a summary, assign a fucking summary. I've practically destroyed my health trying to keep up with your course, and now you tell me it was unnecessary.
Interesting postscript to this story: today I ran into him. I was rushing home after an errand after work, reading my book as I walked so as not to lose time, and who should I run into but the good professor? He'd taken the day off, to enjoy the good weather!
Must be fucking nice! I still have to finish the two texts I'm reporting on, and there's no way I'm sinking to his level and bullshitting through them. I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror if I did that, and I'm ashamed enough to be part of a class that rewards that and not real work.
I'm even going to make a point of finishing those books, if I can, even the ones I'm not reporting on, just to prove it can be done. After the semester is over, though (I'm only taking one course in each of the next two semesters). I may throw the PoMo criticism on a fire, though. I'll see.
I am so looking forward to teacher-evaluation time.
I do have to say, though, that the idea that there are critics out there who are writing about things they've never read certainly explains the low-quality crap he's been foisting on us. I don't think half those people have even looked at the books they're writing about.
Yuck
On another note: not that I'll have time to watch it for a month, but does anyone here know anything about Final Fantasy: Advent Children? All the information I get about is conflicting. I'd really like to know if there is an English-language version coming out, and if so, is there a release date? Maybe I can make it a finishing-this-awful-schoolyear-present to myself.
I've never seen eye-to-eye about my Romantics professor about a lot of things. Philosophically, especially, him being quite the deconstructionist. And in terms of the course itself, his requirements are stringent but vague: nothing turned in late, any missing assigments means a failure in the course, and he never explains things very well. He gets irritated when we don't show up, but is usually late himself.
Worst of all, the workload is impossible. It's his course which has been the reason I've been so far behind lately. The workload is double the Sir Gawain workload, which is fairly heavy.
Last night, now that I've read or am more than halfway through most of the major works for the class, our esteemed professor announced that he never expected us to read all the work. On the contrary, he expected us to read about half of it, and the rest he figured we'd just look up in Master Plots (the Big Book o' English Lit Spoilers), and bullshit our way through class.
He said, "Bullshitting is a useful skill for you to learn," and he even seemed to be suggesting that some people out there were writing Graduate theses without having read the work in question. He even said that you get less out of a book by reading it carefully!
I'm sorry. It's one thing to bullshit at the Undergrad level, because at that level you just want to see if a person can argue their points. They're generally not doing secondary research but rather learning how read carefully and organize their ideas. That's an Undergrad degree. If you can argue well, it really doesn't matter if you've read the material.
But there's a qualitative shift when you get to the Grad level. You're at the point where it's not about argument but about knowledge. Grad students get published. Their ideas gradually float out into academia, and some few of the more brilliant ideas even filter out into the general public, where they have an effect on society. Yes, even in a high-falutin' field like literature, there are thinkers whose ideas affect society.
And to ground all that on a lie -- to talk out of your ass -- is disgusting. I feel dirty just having been a part of that class, now. And as someone who's stayed up day and night actually doing the work, no matter how unreadable and dull the assignments, I want to know: why the fuck did you assign work that you didn't want us to do? If you wanted us to read a summary, assign a fucking summary. I've practically destroyed my health trying to keep up with your course, and now you tell me it was unnecessary.
Interesting postscript to this story: today I ran into him. I was rushing home after an errand after work, reading my book as I walked so as not to lose time, and who should I run into but the good professor? He'd taken the day off, to enjoy the good weather!
Must be fucking nice! I still have to finish the two texts I'm reporting on, and there's no way I'm sinking to his level and bullshitting through them. I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror if I did that, and I'm ashamed enough to be part of a class that rewards that and not real work.
I'm even going to make a point of finishing those books, if I can, even the ones I'm not reporting on, just to prove it can be done. After the semester is over, though (I'm only taking one course in each of the next two semesters). I may throw the PoMo criticism on a fire, though. I'll see.
I am so looking forward to teacher-evaluation time.
I do have to say, though, that the idea that there are critics out there who are writing about things they've never read certainly explains the low-quality crap he's been foisting on us. I don't think half those people have even looked at the books they're writing about.
Yuck
On another note: not that I'll have time to watch it for a month, but does anyone here know anything about Final Fantasy: Advent Children? All the information I get about is conflicting. I'd really like to know if there is an English-language version coming out, and if so, is there a release date? Maybe I can make it a finishing-this-awful-schoolyear-present to myself.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-25 12:07 am (UTC)When it is, we'll probably get fansubs right away, but it's likely to get licensed in the US very soon too and appear there...
....
Was that any help? >_>
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-25 08:29 am (UTC)I'm actually selfishly hoping it won't be released in the next month. It'll save me the need to resist temptation 0_o
I'll probably wind up seeing both the fansub and the liscensed translation, though, to compare. I still find fansubs are often done better, though there's less censorship in English now. I like how fansubs often explain puns (this was done very well with Gravi -- including kanji) and things like that.
Anyway, I am looking forward to it. With kaworu Eva coming out in English last January, FFAC coming out soonish, and the next Harry Potter book, it's sort of a watershed year for all my fandoms. This'll also be the year the last two books of Gravitation come out, I suspect (I hear 11 is already out).
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 01:38 pm (UTC)I agree about the fansubs being better.... depending on the group anyways. In some cases it seems like the only qualification necessary to become a translator is a year of Japanese and a dictionary. Fortunately, most of them do a good job and even the american companies aren't as bad as they used to be. I loved the official release of Fruits Basket, for example.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-26 02:16 pm (UTC)I picked up 11 today, and I'm saving it as a reward for myself if I can actually get Byron finished.
I have to admit I like the panda -- better than I liked Rage/Reiji, certainly :D