Midterm Reflections

With both my wife and me enrolled in college classes right now, I thought I would discuss what we (okay, mostly ME) have learned so far…

Here’s a weird thing: My wife has not taken a single test in any of her classes yet, and, apart from a “take-home final exam” (I call that kind of exam an “assignment”), she’s not gonna have any tests. I, meanwhile, have had nothing but tests. In fact, my grade for the class will be based on two things: the five exams given in class, and my participation in class.

When my wife came home with her first assignment handed back to her a few weeks ago, she was glowing with excitement that she had scored an “A”. She said something about really knowing the material, but then I pointed out that getting an A does not necessarily mean you know the material, but only that you know exactly what the professor expected.  I will concede that these two ideas may overlap considerably, but still, I am confident the latter trumps the former.

My wife has been spending a lot of time on a group project, which I think is intended to teach her how stupid some of her classmates are. She pretty much hates doing group work, and I fully empathize and sympathize (is it possible to do both?) with this opinion. I completely despised having to work closely with other students on projects, particularly since and my grade was partially in their hands. I am always concerned that the grades of all in the group will average out. What I mean is, if I am paired with a student who has recieved all C’s in the class, and I have gotten all A’s, then I have to put forth that much more effort to ensure I am not saddled with a B on the project. It’s as if I have to give 110% so that their 80% effort will result in a 90% for both of us.

Maybe this sort of group work helps you learn how to work with others, but here’s my blanket statement: I don’t need to know this. I mean, in my day-to-day life, if I can’t depend on or trust someone, I excuse them from my life. At my job, if a co-worker is grossly incompetant, they don’t last long. And, even if I am forced to work alongside them, it’s not as if their incompetance results in a decrease in my wages. 

I don’t mind working with someone if it’s an in-class assignment (for example, I had to do a lot of lab work last time I was in college, and it made sense to team up with someone to split the work & to collaborate on the observations), and I didn’t even mind the old ‘pick a partner and work with that person’ task, but I really hated being assigned to work with specific people and having to meet with them after class and draw up work for a forth-coming single assignment that would be graded one combined grade for me and the slackers.

Now onto my class: the three tests I’ve taken (and the two still to come) are essay tests. The professor writes a question on the board, and then I have one hour to write out an answer.  This is not my favorite kind of test. Actually, I think it’s my least favorite. The whole time, I am writing as fast as I can while attempting to maintain legible penmanship. I begin thinking things like “Oh, I’ll have to forego writing about such-and-such because otherwise I’ll run out of time” and “Shoot, half the class has already finished, how were they able to write so succinctly and I’m not even half done yet?” Despite the frenetic pace, I am forced to stop writing every ten minutes just to flex my fingers & wave my hand around to crack all the joints, simultaneously cursing my other hand for being useless.

I understand that a written essay is probably the best way to determine if the student has grasped the material presented, but – especially since we can use our notes during the test – I’d rather write an essay at home and bring in to class a perfectly formulated, legible (as it would be printed via computer), coherent essay. This would avoid the professor having to ask students to come into her office and read their illegible essays to her (yep, that’s happened, but not to me) and it would prevent me from having to tack on ideas all willy-nilly in my essay as they randomly come to mind and as I come to see that I do, in fact, have 30 extra seconds to fit in certain points. As it is, on one of my tests, the professor wrote something like “Should’ve mentioned such-and-such”. My response to that is: I would have, but I didn’t have enough time.

Anyway, I’ve gotten an A on every test so far, so maybe I should stop griping.