Aside from travel time being a pain in your case (I lived 15 minutes away from my University), this never bothered me. If I had a long break between classes, it just meant I had time to go to the Library and get my work done distraction free.Kukakkau said:
Biggest university/college/school pet peeves.
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1. Changing rooms/tutorial times/exam locations etc. and not telling anyone. My Uni does this all the time and it is f***ing annoying. I once went to Uni for the first day of the semester, to my only class, a mechanical engineeing tutorial. It was in a stupid building about 20 minutes off campus(I'll get to that in a sec), I get there and construction work. The guy there says he's come across 5 people before me and told each of them to go home. So I do. Wasted train ticket, wasted walk, waste of time. I get home, and they cancel my tutorial altogether because of the stupid building its in and the small size of the class. That was the one day I finished before 6. F*** you, timetables.
2. We have a numbering system for buildings that is used in an abbreviated form on our timetables. We also have worded names for some buildings, like Building 6 being the Peter Jackson Building. But you'd never know to look at a sign, because they never, ever, put the number and worded name on the same f***ing sign. I had to do a Google search the first time just figure it out. As if that wasn't bad enough, there are two Building 5's, one being 20 minutes' walk from the central campus, and the other...being 10 minutes' walk in the OTHER DIRECTION. So basically I went to the wrong one first each of the two times I've had to go to "Building 5" and been half an hour late for each of the first lessons. F*** you, buildings.
3. Lecturers with foreign accents so bad that even students of their own nationality can't understand them. It's a serious problem, the only guy who does mechanics lectures has a Chinese accent that is twice as bad as my (passably garbled) impression of a Chinese accent. He literally has to avoid certain words, even if they are engineering terms, because no-one will understand what he's saying, and you can tell because he will fish around before using a less appropriate word for the situation and when you realise what he was going to say you know why. I learn nothing in those lectures, and was surprised to find the majority of other students in the same boat. Don't know what to blame here, but whatever it is, f*** that thing.
2. We have a numbering system for buildings that is used in an abbreviated form on our timetables. We also have worded names for some buildings, like Building 6 being the Peter Jackson Building. But you'd never know to look at a sign, because they never, ever, put the number and worded name on the same f***ing sign. I had to do a Google search the first time just figure it out. As if that wasn't bad enough, there are two Building 5's, one being 20 minutes' walk from the central campus, and the other...being 10 minutes' walk in the OTHER DIRECTION. So basically I went to the wrong one first each of the two times I've had to go to "Building 5" and been half an hour late for each of the first lessons. F*** you, buildings.
3. Lecturers with foreign accents so bad that even students of their own nationality can't understand them. It's a serious problem, the only guy who does mechanics lectures has a Chinese accent that is twice as bad as my (passably garbled) impression of a Chinese accent. He literally has to avoid certain words, even if they are engineering terms, because no-one will understand what he's saying, and you can tell because he will fish around before using a less appropriate word for the situation and when you realise what he was going to say you know why. I learn nothing in those lectures, and was surprised to find the majority of other students in the same boat. Don't know what to blame here, but whatever it is, f*** that thing.
People using class time to talk about themselves, be it students or the professor. I mean, really, I have nothing against small talk. But don't waste class time for it. I don't know how many times we've gotten towards the end of a semester and the professor says something like, "We're going to have to really rush through from here on out, as we've somehow fallen behind".
Maybe it's because you spend the first ten minutes of every class talking about your family. Or maybe because chatty Kathy over there thinks we need to hear about her latest health problem every time an even remotely tangential topic arises.
Maybe it's because you spend the first ten minutes of every class talking about your family. Or maybe because chatty Kathy over there thinks we need to hear about her latest health problem every time an even remotely tangential topic arises.
Making attendance at lectures mandatory and then rambling on about stuff that is in no way relevant to the class. If I couldn't hide away in the back of the lecture hall and surf the internet Id probably go insane.
Ehm, my parents pay for my rent and food and also the univerity costs (260? a semester and books)cerealnmuffin said:
Please don't hate me.
Pretty please?
[sub][sub]I make awesome brownies[/sub][/sub]
I can completely understand you there. A friend of mine recently failed his Computing course at Uni because of this. ( Second year too ) A girl within their group got annoyed that they hadn't named their program functions properly and changed them last minute, as a result, the whole program didn't work and they had nothing to present. Words can not describe how pissed he was.klown said:
I'm one of those people whose parents pay for their university fees. I'm quite aware how fortunate I am, it's something I've always been a little embarrassed about. I can give some insight in why in my particular case:cerealnmuffin said:
-Both of my parents came from lower class families but when they were my age the government (Australian) paid completely for university. Both of them are relatively left-leaning and believe in free university. They still had to work to get the marks need to enter and pass each of Medicine. Likewise I still had to gets the marks to enter and complete my course (Medicine again)
-In Australia you still only pay a proportion of your university fees and the government pays the majority, if you pay early instead of deferring you can save 20% (or I think until recently), saving the family as a collective that much money over five years we figured was logical.
-Finally due to tax loopholes, my not working and being an employee/trustee for my father's business actually saves more money in taxes than if I was to work. More than my university fees and minor living expenses.
When I have children I intend to pay for their fees.
So you mean that the person is apathetic, meaning a person doesn't care. I am only giving you shit because of your last sentence. It should say "with apathy" instead of "with no apathy."klown said:
Anyways I completely agree with you. I had this problem in my university physics class. We had one person in our group who never showed up or was late to class. Hell, instead of building our project, a musical Tesla coil, we just gave a report on how we would have done it. Mind you we still got a decent grade on the project(I think it was an A-), I would have preferred that we would have actually met up and build the damn think.
When students try to teach the class. Nothing worse than when a lecturer is talking away, explaining something and a student decides to chip in with his or her own knowledge on the matter. Its like they feel the need to show the teacher that they already have an understanding but its irritating as hell to everyone else.
Best shut-down to this behaviour I ever saw was in a networking class and the teacher was going through a best practice case study when one student decided to parrot essentially the same case study back.
While the student was talking the teacher took a seat at his desk and waited paitiently without saying a word. When the student eventually tailed off into silence he looked at the teacher and teacher suddenly look surprised and said, "Oh, you want me to teach again? I assumed you had taken over my role, I was quite enjoying the break."
Student never spoke out again.
Best shut-down to this behaviour I ever saw was in a networking class and the teacher was going through a best practice case study when one student decided to parrot essentially the same case study back.
While the student was talking the teacher took a seat at his desk and waited paitiently without saying a word. When the student eventually tailed off into silence he looked at the teacher and teacher suddenly look surprised and said, "Oh, you want me to teach again? I assumed you had taken over my role, I was quite enjoying the break."
Student never spoke out again.
Colleges who encourage suicidally depressed students to take leave and go home to their families instead of getting help and trying to make it through school, just so they can not claim responsibility if the student dies. This is actually a thing that happens; it reflects badly on a college if students break down like that, but their response is usually try to send the kid away, not get them help. Keep in mind that some of these students' families are actively detrimental to their mental health.
On a less horribly depressing note, I don't like overly expensive food on campus. Why is it that colleges feel the need to gouge already cash-strapped students?
On a less horribly depressing note, I don't like overly expensive food on campus. Why is it that colleges feel the need to gouge already cash-strapped students?
Shouldn't they be considered job training? This is my sorest sticking point with college right now. A BA is no longer something you take to expand your mind, to learn and what not. At this stage of life it's pretty much required that to survive and earn more then minimum wage that you have a BA.trooper6 said:
As such, I don't have any idea why I'm forced to take biology when I'm a god damn English major. Literally gaining nothing from the experience, and worse yet, I'm wasting money on test books I will never-ever use.
Same breath, I never understand the professors that will echo that same sentiment of "If you don't want to be here, get out." cause hey man... I'd rather not be in college, out there starting my life. I have learning nothing here I couldn't of learned myself with a library card and an internet connection. I'm only here because society has no dictated a certain piece of paper as my requirement of continued survival.
And yeah, bare in mind what the bachelors degree is for doesn't even matter for these jobs. My sister has one in journalism, but she needed it to get her current job: Watching a TV Network's programming all day and making sure the logo in the corner doesn't disappear. So what we learn doesn't even matter, just the existence of the piece of paper that says we wasted 4 years of our life.
So when a prof takes time out of class to chew out that one or two students that aren't paying attention it really ticks me off. Like, hey man, they paid. If they want to waste their money, let them. I've never once been distracted from a lecture because someone was texting or secretively playing angry birds.
Really I just hate the whole college experience. I have two more semesters, i'll have my magical piece of paper and I go out and actually find a real job and be free of all this nonsense.
You are the worst and most depressing sort of student. You getting nothing out of your education because you put nothing into it and don't want to learn. You are wasting everyone's time, including your own.SaneAmongInsane said:
And let me clue you into something, there are a lot of jobs you can get that pay well without having gotten your BA. You can join the military, you can go to a trade school and become a mechanic (they earn a lot of money), you can become a firefighter or a cop. There are lots of jobs for you if University is so miserable to you.
As for the angry birds, when I'm teaching a class, the educational experience of everyone in that class is my responsibility. You may not be distracted by angry birds...but you've also already admitted that you don't care about your education, so I don't think you are a very good measuring stick. I have regularly had students come up to me after class and complain about people playing angry birds or talking and how it negatively impacts their learning experience. So it is my responsibility to tell you to knock it off.
And lastly, if you can get all you need out of my class by reading books in the library and checking out the internet, please go and do it. If you can get an A without ever being there, you make the classroom a better environment because you aren't there with your bad attitude and you don't have to be in a classroom "wasting your time." Of course, I've never met a student who could actually get an A in one of my classes without being there for participation in the Socratic method and being part of the developing conversation. But feel free to try.
People who look down at me for having an active social life and partying a lot, claiming "You won't possibly get the grades" etc. etc.
The jokes on you, when I work, I work damn hard, and I got a 2:1 in my first year for my efforts.
Also, lecturers that are ill suited to their job. We had a lecturer who had done some brilliant work in her field, but had a mental breakdown in front of her class a few years back. And it shows. Then there's the "I'm a working class bloke, fuck the system" sociology lecturer who, in the same sentence will say how he's from a working class background and then ask us to "Ruminate upon the ideologies of Marxism with reference to several classical theorists"
What.
The jokes on you, when I work, I work damn hard, and I got a 2:1 in my first year for my efforts.
Also, lecturers that are ill suited to their job. We had a lecturer who had done some brilliant work in her field, but had a mental breakdown in front of her class a few years back. And it shows. Then there's the "I'm a working class bloke, fuck the system" sociology lecturer who, in the same sentence will say how he's from a working class background and then ask us to "Ruminate upon the ideologies of Marxism with reference to several classical theorists"
What.
Ahh, I see what you mean, sorry my mistake. I always thought the word apathy was a scale, not automatically at the bottom. I wonder what word I'm thinking of then...I don't always translate things properly.Jerry Pendleton said:
Anyway, back on topic, after today's class, I know another thing that makes me mad. People who show up late, then proceed to go right to sleep, and then ask what we learned in that class.
It's funny you post this. I just got to class and the first thing the teacher said was "I'm letting [this student] do a presentation on something he is very passionate about! She said it goes with our subject matter, but I fail to see how Marxist Communism relates to Sex and Gender.DustyDrB said:
I imagine university tenure is (from the University's point of view) an opportunity to look flashy. Teachers don't become famous, but obviously authors do.trooper6 said:
Real shame. In my A levels I'm really seeing how the teacher makes or breaks a lot of people's chances.
OT: When the teacher brought in to sub for two thirds of the academic year when our psychology teacher goes on maternity leave is herself pregnant.
She was also half-assed, to boot!
When you happen to be in the year that they choose to experiment with a new exam schedule that only made things a thousand times worse.