Proof

Sometimes, just sometimes, I know what I’m talking about.

The husband did not go about this whole college thing very well. He took his time, took extra fun classes instead of the ones he was supposed to take *, and waited untill the VERY LAST SECOND for some rather important things.

This December, God willing, we’re DONE with school. Finally. Barring me going back (which is the plan at some point or other) the whole we’re-a-student-family thing will be DONE. Which means it’s time to get together his graduation petition, right? Due October 1st, no problem.

Um, big problem. He was a class short. A class he’s known about for almost a YEAR. A class we’d talked about all summer and he’d assured me was taken care of. 3 weeks into the semester and only 5 DAYS from the add deadline, he hasn’t attempted to add the class. Of course, the professor said no.

So, we look for other options. Find a class that fits into his schedule and meets the requirements. Professor agrees to add him. Go to the registrar and … nope, sorry, the classroom is at its capacity (Not the class, the classROOM. Fire codes and all.) Petition the correct office to re-assess the capacity. Hear back that they cannot, as the building is not owned by the university. We’ll need to go to the building owner, who will have to go through DCRA.**

Clearly, THAT was not going to happen in the 3 days we had left. Tired and stressed I told him the best solution would be for the prof to open up another section of the class. Then he could sit in on the class, but the registrar would be able to enroll him in the new section. Done and done, right? He looked at me cross-eyed. Apparently I was speaking French, and he was not comprehending a word. He decided to talk to the prof and see what could be done.

Well, last night he got an email. Prof says he’ll enroll husband in an independent study course … graded based on the syllabus for the over-full class. He’ll be required to attend as if he was enrolled in said over-full class. Registrar approves. Husband looks at me and says “wow, that’s a really smart solution!”

I blinked at him.

“Um, that’s EXACTLY what I suggested.”

Never let it be said that I don’t know what I’m doing. College? Professors? Pssh. I learned THAT system YEARS ago.

 

* His school offers a service they call “Degree Map”. We were looking at it last night. Credits wise, he’s 120% on track for graduation. CLASSES wise, he’s only at 94%. As of today that’ll be 100%, but really … 20% extra?!

** The DC Office of Regulatory Affairs. I deal with them regularly in my line of work. They are the definition of slow.

3 Comments to “Proof”

  1. I think the whole reason I never managed to get my degree was because they wanted me to take so many classes I had no interest in and saw no purpose to. If they could prove to me the point of taking geology when I was majoring in theater for costume design I would be all over it, but seriously? The closest science course I could find that might in some stretch of the imagination be useful to theater was chemistry. I discovered in high school that while the practical portion of chemistry was easy as pie, the math based portion left me at a complete loss. Moles I got in theory, but I could never convert them, and apparently that is important. My chemistry teacher politely told me at the end of the year he sort of passed me out of pity and suggested non math based sciences from that point on.

    Umm what was I talking about? Ohh yea, pointless classes. I know the college thinks it is important for balance and all but that doesn’t always mean it is what I think is important.

    I did have a friend who graduated with an accounting degree after 9 years and enough credits and classwork to give him 7 different degrees, he just had to pick one. Now that is excessive. He now is a long haul truck driver. Now that is a waste.

    • I ended up doing biology as a theater major. Not rediculously helpful, but not super math based either. I think only anatomy would really help, and a lot of colleges don’t count that one for all degrees.

      There were several pointless classes required for his degree. He’s currently having to take *2* science labs for a communication/poli sci degree. Which is ridiculous. I have enough trouble with those. But the ones that REALLY irk me are the photo and yoga and other random “these sound like fun!” classes he opted to take … that didn’t actually fulfill any requirements. Those, to me, just seem like wasted money, when he now says he didn’t get anything from them.

      Man … 9 years? Did he just love school? I know a few people like that. =)

  2. I took anatomy in high school and loved it but it didn’t count at our college for our degree. Biology always for some reason conflicted with one of my mandatory theater classes, and geology was supposed to be super easy. I would have taken classes like photography and yoga because I find them both fascinating, but then I think I would have gotten something out of them, even if it wasn’t for my degree.

    Yea he loved school. Every semester he would open up the college coursebook and just peruse it until he found things that sounded cool to him. Astrophysics, photography, computer graphic design, philosophy, cantonese, underwater basket weaving. I think he took nearly every class they offered.
    He now says he chose to be a truck driver so he had more time to think. I like to imagine he listens to recorded lectures and books on tape constantly.

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