College students - is it just me...?

Since beginning my Masters this fall, one thing I notices right away is how crabby some of the students are (towards the classes/program) -keep in mind some, not all.
Factors that I need to consider is that Detroit is considered to be one of the more "angrier" cities MSN Health, and I was also frustrated when I was close to graduating also (some of the students are on the last or second to last semester).

My question is though, why would you go into a program if all you're going to do is complain about it? I chose my program as the classes and overall degree excited me. Granted one class that I'm in isn't as up to par as the other classes, BUT still...I realise the reality that not every class is going to meet my expectations. I learned that when I was earning my bachelors.

Maybe I'll feel differently in a semester or two when the crabby students start to get to me, but still...
Is anyone else who started school or attend/attended a program that people were just unhappy in?

Well, i'm a college student myself...and I agree with you. If someone doesn't want to be there- leave....but if you truely want to be in college and in your field of study- you should try to be a little interested and happy about it...after all, it is your future. If someone is angry all of the time- I would say that they are not in the right field for them (which is why they're unhappy) or they just need some happy pills . Also, I understand an occassional bad day- most college students work and go to school.....many have families....that's a lot of stress. Me personally, I go to school full time, work full time, volunteer around the clock fostering, and i'm looking for a second part time job just to make ends meet- I get stresed, and yes, there are days when I just need a little extra sleep and don't want to go to class...but I get up and do it anyways and try to be decient about it- because it's my future, and it's my chance to better myself. That's just my opinion on it though.

Well, I went to university to get a degree in English, and ended up hating my program. Here I went thinking it would help me become a better writer and broaden my horizons and all of that, and in the end, all the professors wanted me to do was feed their own opinions back to them. It didn't matter if I didn't agree with them; they were the professors, I was a lowly student, and my own opinions were moot. I wasn't learning anything, I was just regurgitating everything I'd been told. My biggest disappointment was that I didn't get into a creative writing course I wanted to attend; I had to submit a portfolio of my writing to the professor, who would then decide which students he wanted in his class. He didn't pick me, and it was devastating. What pissed me off the most was that I was paying to go to that university for the purpose of improving my writing, so I should have been able to take any course I was qualified for -- and I was more than qualified to get into a creative writing course. (In retrospect, I write horror/fantasy, the professor that semester wrote plays about being gay in Toronto, so I suspect he just didn't feel he had anything to offer me.)

I stuck around for four years because I thought that was what I was supposed to do. (It was a four year program, but I dilly-dallied.) I hated the thought of having wasted so much money for something I no longer wanted, and I resented the school and my professors for being less than I had imagined them to be. In the end, I got tired of being so resentful and angry (and tired of wasting my money!), so I left. It wasn't the program for me, and realistically, I don't need a university degree to be a successful writer.

Would I take it all back? Heck, no! I met lots of great people, had plenty of great adventures and experiences (and some not-so-great ones as well), and learned a lot about myself and life. I also fell in love with the city and met my boyfriend while I was there, and I have no intentions of leaving. As miserable and resentful as I was, I think the experience was worth it. University/college isn't for everyone -- it sure wasn't for me! But I'm glad I gave it a try.

Also consider the class. Sometimes it's a class that most of the students in it have to take, rather than want to take, and they don't complain about the classes in their major. And Freshmen complain alot more, just because that was the cool thing to do in high school and it takes a little while for them to grow out of it.

I usually consider whining about class to be a way of making friends and commiserating about how stressful college is. I have to admit I whine about assignments and profs occasionally, but not about being in college in general.

As for the kids who just keep whining and whining and whining about being in school in general, they probably won't be there long

Looking back, I was probably one of those miserable, crabby college students. There were a few contributing factors in my case, the main one being that I was depressed and didn't know it. My depression manifests itself in anger and irritability, not being sad. Another reason was that I was SO unchallenged in that school! My high school classes were much harder than college ever was, so I coasted a lot, and was very bored overall. And I was really in the wrong school for me, but I had my reasons to keep going there (mainly to do with the advantages of attending that particular college for my future employment opportunities). I didn't fit in at all, I didn't get along with many of the students unless I had to.

Sad thing is, I spent 5 years there in a course of study that I was employed in for all of 1-1/2 years. What a waste! I wish I had known then what I know now so I could have chosen a better major to fit with me.

Hmm...maybe I should just start slipping some St. John's Wort in their drinks

I wish I could say its one class, but unfortunately since it's a small student pop and program, a few of the crabby students are in all 3 of my classes.
The crabby students I have talked to, well at first I thought they were OK, forwarrning me on a couple of classes, how the teachers are not up-to-par, or the homework/labs are ridiculous -aka easy. But then the Monday night class is stock full of reading. So they complain about that.

Oy, I guess I just have to accept that some people just aren't naturally happy people. Just to coup too, I've been seeking out the naturally happy people in the class. Yes, I have bad days too, but I don't want to be around people that complain a lot.

I get EXTREMELY craby with my RD (requirement designation) classes.

I'm a music student. I practice 5 or 6 hours a day. I have no time to care about chemistry. I really don't. And yet, the profs teaching these stupid 100-level classes load us up with work, work, work and give us very little room. Personally, if it were up to me, college would be a lot like a montessori school...you only get the help you ask for and you only learn what you feel is necessary to learn. Participation grades irk me the most. Is this high school? Shouldn't we all be ok with the fact that some of us learn by soaking it all up? Or reading? Or conversing with the prof? And that it's all ok? Ugh. At my college, which is a small Liberal Arts school, very few of the profs are published or could hardly be considered authorities in their fields. THe music and theater conservatories are really the only places you'll find that kind of expertise. And yet, these adjuncts seem to think they make 10,000 rules and give 9 billion readings and 46 trillion pages of written work.

Sometimes it's just the profs that make people cranky, be they boring, uninformed, inaccurate, authoritatian, cranky themsevles, etc. Or, anohter thing that drives me personally up a wall is Online Learning. When I have to check like 4 different sites per class daily just so I know what's going on, I get a little crabby, specifically because these sites are always overloaded and aren't Mac friendly 100% of the time. How hard would it be to devise a syllabus and stick to it and then email the class is there's a minor change? How hard would that be?

BUT...I love my program. I love the music school and I'm happy to be there. And I like the people and profs. That's why I stick around. LA&S is just a lot of red tape for me.

Many people are natural complainers and it is their way of commiserating and making friends as Zissou's Mom said.

That said, both the first time I went to college (at 17) and now (at 27) I was disappointed in most of the profs and students. I guess I always expect something a little more mature and sophisticated. I find that an awful lot of instructors simply don't meet my expectations, and that I get far more out of reading the text book than attending lectures. I'm not down on all of them though, I have had a few good ones. As far as the students go, I am often disappointed by a complete lack a maturity and common courtesy. People who sit there and talk loudly and constantly the whole way through the lecture, after they have been asked repeatedly to keep quiet by both the prof and their classmates, people who make rude comments, who complain constantly, who are consumed with everything but academics and who openly discuss cheating on assignments and exams just so they can get the grade. I find myself getting very angry at some of these students, I feel like they are wasting my time and money by causing so much disruption that all I can hear during class is every dirty detail of their personal life and I can't make out half of what the instructor says It's worse than high school sometimes, I guess because there's really no disciplinary action. One of these days I'm going to get in trouble when I turn around and start swearing at this girl who always sits down right behind me in Astronomy. Well that was a little bit off topic, I've just been fuming about this lately and needed to rant

Anyway, back on your topic I think you'll find that a lot of the students who compulsively complain about the coursework and instructors are not that interested in going to school, they are there by default because it's expected of them and someone else is footing the bill. They haven't really thought too much about what they're doing there, and they certainly don't realize how much money it's going to cost them

Originally Posted by lionessrampant

I'm a music student. I practice 5 or 6 hours a day. I have no time to care about chemistry. I really don't. And yet, the profs teaching these stupid 100-level classes load us up with work, work, work and give us very little room.

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Yea, but if you ever tried out for Jeopardy, at least you'd have a fighting chance to get on the show (that's what we always joked about in college).

When I was going for Music I thought that way too...but since earning my bachelors (3 years after leaving the music school) I've come to be thankful for "Core classes" or Required classes. They seem dumb at the time, but you look back one day and realize "Oh I took history so that I could understand other influences going on at the time that could have effected the music" or understanding math so that your brain can gain a logic in order to continue to understand a 6/8 time against a 2/4 time (or triplets against eighths). etc.

Sorry to pick on you, but I think that's what gets missed, is how to relate to what seems to be non-related.

I'm off to class! Wow, it was snowing a minute ago, now its sunny!!!!

I hate it when there are crabby people in my classes. I am the one who always blows a fuse & tells them to shut their traps as they are ruining the learning experince for the rest of us who care to be there.

I'm a music industry major, and I love most of my classes, but the sciences, maths, and accounting courses I do NOT want to be in. I stew silently about them though. I would never even think of complaining about it in front of a professor.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

Yea, but if you ever tried out for Jeopardy, at least you'd have a fighting chance to get on the show (that's what we always joked about in college).

When I was going for Music I thought that way too...but since earning my bachelors (3 years after leaving the music school) I've come to be thankful for "Core classes" or Required classes. They seem dumb at the time, but you look back one day and realize "Oh I took history so that I could understand other influences going on at the time that could have effected the music" or understanding math so that your brain can gain a logic in order to continue to understand a 6/8 time against a 2/4 time (or triplets against eighths). etc.

Sorry to pick on you, but I think that's what gets missed, is how to relate to what seems to be non-related.

I'm off to class! Wow, it was snowing a minute ago, now its sunny!!!!

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No, I understand perfectly, but here what they do is they pick the classes for us...general this and general that. Well, I'll tell you, I just got through with my math requirement...but I took calc in high school So instead of learning anything, I (admittedly) end up completely slacking off and relying on what I learned at prep school.

I feel like I already got well rounded!

But like you say, maybe I'll be on Cash Cab or something and need this information at some point.

And my contemporary ensemble is actually where I'm learning all of my composite rhythms...it's kinda cool I'm doing a full year of studies on Cage and Crumb...with George Crumb you get things like 5 then 3 then 4 in the time of 3 while a triplet equals the eighth, but then it shifts its little self back into duples ( and you have 3's, 5's and 2's and 4's on the 16th....And it's me and three percussionists...such a trip! And then for Cage, we're doing an aleatoric piece in which we have to shout sections of the front section of a newspaper.

Do you think it's mostly immaturity?

Lots of kids just out of high school might feel they are going to college for their parents, so it's an obligation. When you are older, you are usually going to college for yourself, and consider it a privilege (and even make sacrifices to have that privilege).

My husband and I always laugh at the "sullen teens." You know the ones; they are SO GRUMPY that Mom and Dad had to drag them along to Paris... or Hawaii... or wherever.

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

p.s. I'm speaking generally; there are lots of college students who feel it's an opportunity.

Originally Posted by lionessrampant

No, I understand perfectly, but here what they do is they pick the classes for us...general this and general that. Well, I'll tell you, I just got through with my math requirement...but I took calc in high school So instead of learning anything, I (admittedly) end up completely slacking off and relying on what I learned at prep school.

I feel like I already got well rounded!

But like you say, maybe I'll be on Cash Cab or something and need this information at some point.

And my contemporary ensemble is actually where I'm learning all of my composite rhythms...it's kinda cool I'm doing a full year of studies on Cage and Crumb...with George Crumb you get things like 5 then 3 then 4 in the time of 3 while a triplet equals the eighth, but then it shifts its little self back into duples ( and you have 3's, 5's and 2's and 4's on the 16th....And it's me and three percussionists...such a trip! And then for Cage, we're doing an aleatoric piece in which we have to shout sections of the front section of a newspaper.

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That is awesome! If you do a performance, be sure to tape it. Cage is cool.

Wow! Cage is a name I haven't heard in a long long time

That does stink if you're only allowed to take "Algebra 101" instead of "Choose one if these Math Courses: Algebra, Geometry, Calc," etc etc...at least that's what I'm thinking.

It is good to have some core studies though...then if you graduate and realise: a) You don't like what you went into or b) there aren't any job openings for what you do, then having something such as an accounting class (or math) is great to work someplace that is relevent to the field...even if the class was dull, at least you would get half the entertainment.

Huh, well the crabby kids took their happy pill tonight. We were talking about the mid-term and one of them asked if it could be "Open Internet" in addition to open book and open notes. He also asked if the teacher could make it an easy exam.

It was awful when I went back to school for Massage Therapy. It had several medical courses, and some of those morons didn't seem to think we needed Anatomy and Phisiology to learn massage. Most of them seemed to think it was just an easy way to keep mom and dad happy that they were still in school, and since they were paying for it, they could do whatever they wanted. One woman my age just insisted that the instructors just could not limit our break time because she worked a full time job and needed to relax in the evening. One girl even acted like she was going to assault a teacher for giving her a failing grade on a test she FAILED. I had to step in between them. Most of the girls rolled their scrubs down to their pubic hair, wore little tank tops instead of the scrub tops, smacked huge wads of gum, texted, slept, and just generally acted like little bimbos. I shudder to think what kind of massage some of those girls are giving.

Oooo!!!
That reminds me of a story. When my SIL went back to school, during the time of the season finales on TV students would ask the teacher if they could get out early b/c such-and-such show's season's finale was on.
Talk about not getting your priorities straight! 1) You're paying HOW MUCH per credit hour to want to go home and watch TV? 2) There is a thing called a VCR (or TiVO/DVR).

i remember feeling like this in school. i practiced forever and didn't have time to waste on other bits of homework in other classes. i just did my best, graduated with a 3.8, went on to my masters - which was a much better experience.

never really liked Cage, i do like reich and glass though

but that's the minimalist/techno in me