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College Life 2010/2011

I simply feel like writing ~

but, I have writer's block.

I want to write SOMETHING, but no ideas are coming to mind for the next, great literary masterpiece.

For something to do, I'm jotting down my personal thoughts about my re-entry into the world of higher learning.

This'll be my second year at Eastern, though I'll be a Junior with a still-undecided major/minor.

I started as an English major with Literature as a minor (I think).

From there, it was English major and Writing minor.

Too much writing, believe it or not (I suck under pressure, let's put it that way).

So, in a probable panic, I changed to English major with a minor in Language, and then promptly changed THAT to an English major with a minor in TESOL.

When school starts this fall (Sept. 8, I believe) I will be changing things again, and it'll likely be English major with a minor in Linguistics.

~ sigh ~



Back in the day, you went to classes, listened to what the professor had to say, you took notes, did your homework, handed it in for a grade, and showed up for the mid-term & final.

Now, however, all that has changed.

I've been told Eastern is one of the most liberal of all colleges in this country, and that comes as no surprise - but, for me, it's beyond liberal and borders on asinine.

It isn't that I'm 'too old' or 'out of touch', either.

Even when I was IN my twenties, I was a grammar nazi, and I am still.

At Eastern, I've been force-fed such nonsense as AAEV (African-American English Vernacular) is a legitimate language, there is no right or wrong in life, and it's what you FEEL, not what you see that matters.

Apparently, there is no HISTORY, because everything we know or learned is wrong or just a figment of some biased man's interpretation of actual events (which aren't or weren't actual since it never happened, except in the mind of said person or persons who wrote the textbooks filled with said lies).

Here's the IRONY in all this so-called modern thinking: in college, you read a lot of HISTORY books (Shakespeare, Bronte, etc.) that are written in such a way that anyone with minimal or even basic (third-grade) English or grammar skills is likely to have trouble with the content.

As an example of the mass confusion going on in the world today, in a Linguistics class last fall, the 'instructor' made a point of explaining to us about the 'history' of Eastern, pointing out that at the beginning, it was referred to as a normal school for education majors that eventually branched out to a University offering more than just an Education degree.

This is the same class where I learned that 'anything goes' with regards to 'language', and that there is no right or wrong when it comes to speaking or even writing said language (English).

"Only 30% of the students enrolled at Eastern actually graduate," he said. "This is due, in part, to their lack of a basic education before they arrived. Not everyone is cut out to be a college graduate, people."

Here are some more words of wisdom gleaned from that class.

"People with a southern accent are less likely to be hired for a white-collar position than someone with, say, a Midwestern accent, and that is due entirely to people's misconceptions about those who live in areas of this country where said accent is prominent."

I wonder if he was teaching in another country during the G. W. Bush administration?

We had to read from a textbook written by a man with over twenty years experience in Linguistics, and a majority of the text was dedicated to the plight of the African-American.

Instead of coming right out with the (God forbid) truth about the situation, the author made it a point to say things like, "It isn't fair" and "Shame on us for discounting their speech as a language."

This country has been in the shameful habit of neglecting certain members of society for as long as it has been in existence, and THAT is why their speech is decidedly different than even that of the supposedly maligned southern accent.

WHITE educators dropped the ball, bottom line.

Even with that fact aside, though, I've heard countless times and for years now that black American's speak one way with friends & family and another way entirely to their boss or white co-workers, white friends.

This, to me, is the same as walking into a nail salon or restaurant and hearing an Asian language spoken by the employees, and then English to you, the white patron.

NOW!! If I'm supposed to go with what I feel as opposed to what I see, then the above sentence would sound like a racist remark, wouldn't it?

Yet, at Eastern, I have heard the nail-salon reference numerous times both in and out of the classroom - by students AND faculty.

Here is the reality, though, and based entirely on what I SEE ~ a majority of the Asian's I know do NOT work in nail salons or restaurants but as accountants, IT professionals, doctors, and educators.

The point I'm trying to make here (to myself) is that there is this double standard permeating the hallowed halls of my Uni, and it boggles the mind while also pissing me off to no end.

I'm not paying all this money to learn about the personal opinions of the professors, and it scares the hell out of me how many of these young students are lapping up the bullsh*t being fed them, too, believing whatever they hear as the gospel truth.

After the Linguistics class, I tried to have a discussion with the teacher about the textbook and it's strangely biased philosophy.

He looked me in the eye and asked if I was going to presume to know more than the man who spent more than twenty years researching the subject.

Things got progressively worse from there and I barely escaped with a C- in his class, but OH WELL!

It was also in that same class where I went from being 'totally psyched' about a future as an English educator in a foreign land to 'totally crushed' when he told me that foreign countries aren't interested in hiring anyone over the age of thirty to teach English.

???WTF???

So, does this mean all the friends I've made online in Asia who said it was highly likely I'd find work even without a degree based entirely on my mannerisms, my knowledge of the subject, and the fact that I taught the third grade here for eight years are liars ???

Do I discount the numerous websites and personal experiences they lead me to about the young, immature brats from my country who went there to teach English and spent a majority of their time getting drunk, getting laid, and poking fun at their students??

I won't even MENTION the things white girls have related to me about their personal experiences overseas, either, since it's a waste of my time and entirely, too racist for my delicate system to handle.

MY NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE BACHELOR'S DEGREE

Just wait and see, Asia ~

I'm getting the 'required' degree necessary to be employed over there, and because I'm not the prerequisite young, tactless, and immature, it's likely you'll be dazzled, instead, by my brilliance, my willingness to travel, and my immense desire to do something worthwhile with my life.

IN ONE EAR AND OUT THE OTHER

Naysayer's beware, because it's the last time I'll let anyone twist my way of thinking with regard to my future.

No one will affect me with their negativity, doom & gloom, and 'modern' ideals, either.

I know what I want, I know why I quit teaching to get a degree, and I know what all the hardship, fear, and migraines are for, but self-doubt will not be on that list this year OR the next, and I will apply for the Fulbright Scholarship next year just because, too.

I'll suck up the dread that overtakes me each time I hear a teacher say, "Ok boys & girls, it's Romper Room time again! Get into groups of three or four and discuss your feelings about what you just learned!"

I will joyously read Beowulf and wait not until the very, last second to write my thesis on some aspect of the poem that left me filled with euphoria or that plummeted me into the depths of despair.

The MLA is a stupid joke, so I won't spend much time trying to master that inane aspect of higher learning - but, I will at least browse through the manual to get a better idea about what it is every, frickin' teacher at the Uni expects to see when they read my required tomes.

I am older, I am wiser, I am mature, and in my heart, I am still in my twenties regardless of what the mirror says, which means I am just as important as the saggy pants wearing dude with earbuds attached whose every, third word is an F-bomb, or the gut hanging out over my too-tight jeans chick with zero finesse or self-respect.

I know how to read, I know how to write, and I know how to properly speak my native language without the hint of an accent ~ therefore, my skills are in high demand elsewhere, which makes me a valuable asset to any, interested employer seeking a qualified and highly dignified educator for their eager-to-learn students.

I'm not too old to give up on love, but that isn't the first or only thing on my mind anymore, so the likelihood of finding someone like me in the neighborhood bar every night cussing up a storm and poking fun at the things my students say while trying to learn another language are slim to none.

Homesickness, for me, is highly overrated and something only an inexperienced, young fool with thoughts of friends, family, and the cute boy from Chem 401 class constantly on their mind would end up feeling after a few weeks or months in another country.

MY PHILOSOPHY ON SUCCESS

Personally, the piece of paper that proves to the law AND the world that you are married, of age, or qualified are nothing more than what they seem ~ paper with words on them.

There are plenty of adults in the world who can't hold their liquor, can't drive worth sh*t, and who make one bone-head decision after the other to ruin our economy, our food, our health, and even our lives, so having a degree isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

"When in Rome ... " is something I understand as much as I believe and try to practice by studying foreign languages, their customs, their holidays, their values, their laws, and even by sampling their cuisine so as not to look like a complete jerk in front of others.

If they handed out degrees for common sense, manners, and diplomacy, I'd be a phD doctor ten times over, and this goes a long way when it comes to interacting with others, working alongside strangers, and helping to instill my knowledge, so as far as I'm concerned, a majority of my future plans are solid.

Obtaining the almighty degree is a million hurdles away in the next, two years, but even if I'm breathless, nearing heart-attack stage, and dragging my tired ass on the pavement by then, I'll make it to the finish line first before collapsing and in need of an oxygen mask and an ambulance.

I WILL SURVIVE