University: A Freakin Waste Of My Time.
So, decidedly I hate the university I attend.
Because I don’t want to get slammed with any shit for saying its name, lets just go with “The University of Awful” (U of A from here on in).
Over the last 4 years, I have payed ridiculous tuition, dealt with sections of classes I need being removed because of budget cuts (All while our president gets paid over 1 mil a year), huge classes, shitty profs who don’t know how to teach, but are there for research grants, all while no one has any idea who I am (nor do they care).
If I could go back to my little high school self, sitting in on the Career Fair days, and listening to all the universities giving their spiel on why their institution is the greatest, I would have just steered my ass clear of the doors into their presentation rooms, and shoved myself into the seat of a presentation from one of the tech or trade schools.
Now, lets look here. If I average $7000.00 a year in tuition, $1,000 a year in books, around $6,500 in rent (because I had to move somewhere to go to this damn place), along with all other costs…I’m spending well over $14,000 dollars a year JUST on living here and going to school. Now, that may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but did I mention I work dead end jobs every summer, at minimum wage, just to help pay this off? So, each year, I make approximately $6,400 in this job, (before taxes) to pay for this shitty schooling I’m receiving. Which leaves me a deficit of $7,600 per year. So, I have to take a loan out, of $10,000. I am 22, and will be $30,000 dollars in debt as of September (I fortunately had some money saved from high school jobs for my first year). Now, if I was working in say, a trade, or went to a trade school, I would have been working for at least the last two years. Since trades people and people with tech certificates make more than most university graduates, (and I live in one of the most affluent provinces in Canada), lets be stingy and say I’m working full time all year at $20.00/hr (around half of what my fiance makes after 4 months of school total (he still has 4 months to go over the next two years, and will be making almost double what he is making now). That would put me at making approximately $38,400 a year, rather than the -$7,600 I’m at now.
Besides that, I will finish with a degree in Sociology and Christian Theology when I finish my degree. Let me fill you in on some of the vast knowledge I have come to possess that will definitely make employers see how many skills I have that will be pertinent in the workplace. I have taken courses in :
- Fairy tales
- German
- American Sign Language
- Romantic Era English Novels
- Writing Studies (where I got to write about my feelings)
- Theorists of the 1800’s
- And many, many more!
See, these classes have provided valuable skills for the workplace. If I got a job, I could tell people how to say hello in two languages, I could discuss the sexual nature of fairy tales, and even slip in a fact or two about Karl Marx!
All of this, while those foolish tech school people are out working for half of their schooling…who needs practical experience and valuable networking? Seriously?
All this while I will apply for jobs who will be saddened by the fact that my last four years was spent gaining worthless knowledge, and since it is so time consuming, at 23, I won’t have any valuable work experience that will help me get paid above minimum wage.
Today, I was emailed by a professor about a recent paper I submitted, saying all of these things cornering me about apparent plagiarism. I spent the better part of the day LOSING MY MIND over this, because I searched my paper, trying to find the errors he was speaking about. I read and re read, and after about 3 hours of this, I got an email saying it was to the wrong student. I am aware that mistakes happen. But when the email starts with my name, not even the wrong students name, and you are accusing people of such things, you should probably double check! As a professor, that is sort of a big deal. This kind of thing is just the topper to an excellent semester with profs who couldn’t control a classroom of 8 university students (I had to listen to chatting and laughing in the back of the room all semester), to disrespectful learning atmospheres, and profs who refuse to help you with homework because they “dont have time” with all of their research (thanks, bud).
I just can’t wait to be out of this damn place.
