student blues
Dec. 22nd, 2018 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosasericeaOne of my favorite things has to be when I see reviews of English professors online where students whine about being expected to read...in 200-level literature courses. I've taught high school English here, so I know that many of the students we send on to college are totally unprepared for any level of collegiate-level reading (I had seniors complain to me about having to read short stories more than half a page in length and legitimately lack the stamina to do so when their mewling came to nothing, never having been expected to read anything remotely rigorous in their lives), but it's still staggering how vehement and offended these kids are. They cannot believe the nerve of these professors, expecting them to do HOURS of reading in an AMERICAN LITERATURE class. And not just some of the reading--you have to do all of it and then write papers using legitimate citations that demonstrate you not only read, but understood the texts and can apply analytical concepts to them?!? This is probably why so many instructors use Norton anthologies here, which I cannot stand. But if you can't reasonably expect your students to read a novel in its entirety, why not?
Anyway, I'm taking three English courses through the community colleges near me in the spring because this Brush with my Mortality has motivated me to pursue graduate English, something I've avoided since before I even completed my bachelor's. I have a master's, but it's in teaching. I was always scared that I'd wash out, be intimidated, etc. in a graduate program, so I refused to try. (There's something in there about the personality disorder that I now work very hard on with a very persistent and patient therapist, but that's for another day.) But fear of death without doing something I truly, madly, deeply love has galvanized me. (None of the possible explanations for my issues thus far has actually been a terminal one, but I always get scared of the worst possible outcomes because, you know, catastrophizing.) I'm very excited about one of them because it's a Gothic Lit class and the professor has Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and CARMILLA on the list. And the actual comics for The Crow. And Radcliffe's Sicilian Romance. It's not just a Brontë/Shelley fest, which is really exciting. Frankenstein is included, which is fine, but I love that she's exploring modern treatments of the gothic and multiple formats, not just The Novel. (Plus Carter is one of my favorite favorites, so, bonus!)
I didn't really make connections with my faculty in undergrad for many reasons, not the least of which was that I was undergoing a profound mental breakdown during most of that time and transferred between five schools before finally graduating) and my grades were not spectacular, so I need to make some now as well as get back into the swing of academic writing.( I got my teaching degree with a 4. 0GPA, though, so I have improved my study habits since undergrad, at least.) That's easier and much less expensive to do at the community college level than it is to do via the graduate non-degree/student-at-large method. I definitely can't afford to pay over a thousand dollars out of pocket to take one class! My GRE scores will be good--they were when I took it the first time, but that was too long ago to use them--I think, so I do stand a chance of getting into a not-super-elite program. My big dream is to teach community college English anyway, so a terminal master's would be enough to get me there. I'm also certified to teach high school English and (next year) ESL, so I don't necessarily have to worry about making a living in the nightmare landscape of adjunct-land. I don't harbor any illusions about full-time tenure track faculty life--this is just something I've always wanted to pursue, and now I'm able to support myself no matter how it turns out, which makes me a little grateful, actually, that I took such a roundabout route.
Anyway, I'm taking three English courses through the community colleges near me in the spring because this Brush with my Mortality has motivated me to pursue graduate English, something I've avoided since before I even completed my bachelor's. I have a master's, but it's in teaching. I was always scared that I'd wash out, be intimidated, etc. in a graduate program, so I refused to try. (There's something in there about the personality disorder that I now work very hard on with a very persistent and patient therapist, but that's for another day.) But fear of death without doing something I truly, madly, deeply love has galvanized me. (None of the possible explanations for my issues thus far has actually been a terminal one, but I always get scared of the worst possible outcomes because, you know, catastrophizing.) I'm very excited about one of them because it's a Gothic Lit class and the professor has Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and CARMILLA on the list. And the actual comics for The Crow. And Radcliffe's Sicilian Romance. It's not just a Brontë/Shelley fest, which is really exciting. Frankenstein is included, which is fine, but I love that she's exploring modern treatments of the gothic and multiple formats, not just The Novel. (Plus Carter is one of my favorite favorites, so, bonus!)
I didn't really make connections with my faculty in undergrad for many reasons, not the least of which was that I was undergoing a profound mental breakdown during most of that time and transferred between five schools before finally graduating) and my grades were not spectacular, so I need to make some now as well as get back into the swing of academic writing.( I got my teaching degree with a 4. 0GPA, though, so I have improved my study habits since undergrad, at least.) That's easier and much less expensive to do at the community college level than it is to do via the graduate non-degree/student-at-large method. I definitely can't afford to pay over a thousand dollars out of pocket to take one class! My GRE scores will be good--they were when I took it the first time, but that was too long ago to use them--I think, so I do stand a chance of getting into a not-super-elite program. My big dream is to teach community college English anyway, so a terminal master's would be enough to get me there. I'm also certified to teach high school English and (next year) ESL, so I don't necessarily have to worry about making a living in the nightmare landscape of adjunct-land. I don't harbor any illusions about full-time tenure track faculty life--this is just something I've always wanted to pursue, and now I'm able to support myself no matter how it turns out, which makes me a little grateful, actually, that I took such a roundabout route.
