Textbooks, assignments and syllabi, OH MY!

Well, Tuesday the world drew a collective sigh of.....what.....despair? excitement? relief? dread??? Yes, Tuesday marked the first official day of classes. Not only at Simpson, but at colleges nationwide, including classes I am taking to complete my grad degree.

I was indeed excited for the beginning of the Simpson classes, because seeing my students here is fun, rewarding, and- yeah, yeah I know, I'll stop, I've said it all before and you're probably getting sick of my syrupy-"sounds good in theory but in reality it's a sticky mess that gives you a sugar high and toothache"- sweetness toward "my kids." But I was also filled with dread at beginning my final semester of my own classes. My Tuesday class started with a prof who has 2 PhD's and a 12 page syllabus! I mean, c'mon! Heading into my 3rd and final year of the program- my excitement is waning a bit. It’s Iowa, it’s August- therefore twice a week, I hurry to the babysitter’s to swiftly nab my sweet child, stuff her little curly-headed self into a car seat- drive home- hurriedly feed her, give her kisses and head back out into the night. Where, as it turns out- most people are playing, reading, relaxing, swimming, running, eating, smiling, or doing any number of things that don't have to do with any words like "financial, strategic, corporate, flows, applications, accounting, management, statistics or processes." As is turns out I am not so lucky. I’m hungry and I have to sit for the next 3 hours listening to an MBA professor fill my head full of reasons I should care about running a top-down beta verses a regression (no offense to said professor- I’m sure it’s useful to somebody). When the suffering ends- I trudge to my car- relinquish yet another $1.50 parking “dot”- and spend the next 35 minutes wondering what the heck I am doing to myself as I commute back to my little slice of heaven.

I read somewhere that some suma cum laude grad students were given their finals a second time, only ONE MONTH after taking them for real- and they all failed! So, the basic equation here is: pay money, take classes, pay more money for outrageously expensive text books because you can't use the 8th edition (which sells for $3 at Amazon) because only the 9th edition is capable of teaching you these amazing concepts (it happens to sell for the low, low price of $96.50 at Amazon), read the book, memorize the problems in the book, cram for test, get degree. I think that sums it up.

Maybe I am, after all, insane for enduring this self-inflicted torture. I mean, after my Tuesday class I did fall into convulsions of laughter, rocking back and forth until I was foaming at the mouth. (that's normal, right?)

But, alas, let this not deter you my faithful readers. If indeed you are one of the 3 prospective students that stumble across this blog just know that my Simpson education was vastly different. OK, yes, my profs expected me to come to class....on time....fully functioning. But they were kind, smart, and yes, just maybe, when the stars aligned and the mythological gods smiled upon the campus, sometimes they were even funny.