Time May Change Me (But I Can't Trace Time)
To recap a bit. It was now the early 1990's. I was attending Caldwell College in New Jersey, recently having changed my major a few times. I originally started college with an interest in Communications but Caldwell didn't have Communications as a major so I chose Sociology with a certificate in Communications. The choice of Sociology eventually became English as my major (with the certificate in Communications) then I became a Business major dropping the Communications altogether. After Business didn't work out (and I never second guessed myself, once I have tried a major and didn't like it I never would try it again) I started thinking that computers might be the major for me. So I became a Computer Information Systems major. I also had to take some Business classes as a major in CIS.
Looking back at my time taking these Business courses, I remember some of the professors I had were the biggest, well, let's just say the word begins with an "a" and ends with a "hole". I can imagine that most readers would probably say that I must have an "attitude problem". In response, I would have to say (in a nice way) no, I don't have a problem with my attitude. I have a problem with people who are a**holes. The a**holes are the ones who have a problem with their attitude. For example, I'll never forget the one accounting professor I had, Alvin Neiman who ran his classroom like it was high school. I think on the first day of class or one of the early days he announced to the class, "Class begins at 9am. Not 9:01 or 9:05 but 9am. You are to be here at that time". He continued, "There will be no eating, drinking, or chewing gum in class".
Now, I had no problem with getting to class on time (in fact that was the part I enjoyed the most out of going to college; I just have to sit and listen) but my feeling is: this is not high school, it is college and we are all adults. Not to mention our tuition pays your salary so if we arrive late due to whatever reason i.e. traffic, car problems, health problems, or just our choice to get there when we get there or even not at all, it is our right to do so. Of course it is only fair that if a student arrives late, that they don't disrupt the whole class and that it is the resposibility of the student who arrives late or does not go to make up what they missed. I wonder if it would make a difference to the professor if this was a night-time Continuing Education class and we were all working full-time jobs in addition to going to class at night? Would it then be acceptable to come one minute late? It shouldn't make a difference. Everyone has other things going on in their life. Let's face it, our personal life and health (including mental health) can interupt our day to day activities.
This is the on going, all too common problem with our society. We don't allow people to be human, and it seems like we are unable or unwilling to offer sympathy, compassion, or understanding. Why is this? Is it too much to ask? Am I asking too much of our society to be more understanding? The way I look at is, we need to teach not only academics in school but teach the basics of life about having compassion and understanding of others. Humans are not perfect beings. We are susceptible to maladies and we make mistakes. My feeling is: big deal, you arrive late to class chewing gum, is the world going to end? Perhaps it was just the power went to the professor's head, who knows?
The Business classes weren't going very well so it was time again for a change. This time, however, the change wasn't all that different. I decided to change my major to Computer Science (i wouldn't have to take the Business classes). By this time it was 1994 and I had been in college for 7 years, but I wasn't always a full-time student and I also had taken a year off in 1989 to see what I could do in the work world. I worked two jobs, I did security from 6pm to 1:30am and then worked at Roche Labs from 2am to 10am. God, looking back I am so glad I am not doing that work now. Both were low paying and 3rd shift work is not easy to get used to (and I didn't really enjoy the work; although the one saving grace to my security job was that it gave me time to read some books that I liked). I would get home at 10am from the labs and I couldn't sleep. I went three days without sleep. I remember I started hearing things (I thought someone was talking to me, when in actuality they weren't). I would also find myself writing strange sentences that made no sense or didn't have any relevance as to what I was doing at that time. It was quite bizarre.
I also remember the summer of 1989 I worked for Merry Maids cleaning people's houses. I did the best I could do and I think I made people very happy. I remember I cleaned a toilet at one customer's house that had water stains on the inside porcelain. There is a special cleaner we use for that, which is a stone. I forget what kind of stone it is but it's just a little stone. It takes the stain right off. The only trouble is you have to stick your hand into the toilet (and I mean the part of the toilet where the waste goes, i.e. number one and number two). Of course I did wear rubber gloves but it was still not my cup of tea. I do remember the home owner commenting to my supervisor that the toilet looks fantastic or something to that effect. It did make me feel good and proud of myself that I made her happy. Even though it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling, I knew that this was not going to be a career for me. I wanted to go back to school and still try it in the hopes that just maybe it might work out even though I had no idea what I was doing.
However, it was now 1994 and I had given it the ol' college try (no pun intended). If I didn't really try before (and I think I did) I really tried hard this time as a Computer Science major. I went to the computer lab as often as I could to work on my programs for my Pascale class. Unfortunately I just couldn't get my programs to work and I remember another student would help me to get them working correctly. I just felt inside that I was going no where fast. I knew that I couldn't keep doing what I was doing. I decided to take a leave from college, with the possiblity in the back of my mind, that I might return someday. Of course I didn't know when and I even doubted I would ever go back. I just knew that at this time I needed to move on.
To what, I had no idea...
Looking back at my time taking these Business courses, I remember some of the professors I had were the biggest, well, let's just say the word begins with an "a" and ends with a "hole". I can imagine that most readers would probably say that I must have an "attitude problem". In response, I would have to say (in a nice way) no, I don't have a problem with my attitude. I have a problem with people who are a**holes. The a**holes are the ones who have a problem with their attitude. For example, I'll never forget the one accounting professor I had, Alvin Neiman who ran his classroom like it was high school. I think on the first day of class or one of the early days he announced to the class, "Class begins at 9am. Not 9:01 or 9:05 but 9am. You are to be here at that time". He continued, "There will be no eating, drinking, or chewing gum in class".
Now, I had no problem with getting to class on time (in fact that was the part I enjoyed the most out of going to college; I just have to sit and listen) but my feeling is: this is not high school, it is college and we are all adults. Not to mention our tuition pays your salary so if we arrive late due to whatever reason i.e. traffic, car problems, health problems, or just our choice to get there when we get there or even not at all, it is our right to do so. Of course it is only fair that if a student arrives late, that they don't disrupt the whole class and that it is the resposibility of the student who arrives late or does not go to make up what they missed. I wonder if it would make a difference to the professor if this was a night-time Continuing Education class and we were all working full-time jobs in addition to going to class at night? Would it then be acceptable to come one minute late? It shouldn't make a difference. Everyone has other things going on in their life. Let's face it, our personal life and health (including mental health) can interupt our day to day activities.
This is the on going, all too common problem with our society. We don't allow people to be human, and it seems like we are unable or unwilling to offer sympathy, compassion, or understanding. Why is this? Is it too much to ask? Am I asking too much of our society to be more understanding? The way I look at is, we need to teach not only academics in school but teach the basics of life about having compassion and understanding of others. Humans are not perfect beings. We are susceptible to maladies and we make mistakes. My feeling is: big deal, you arrive late to class chewing gum, is the world going to end? Perhaps it was just the power went to the professor's head, who knows?
The Business classes weren't going very well so it was time again for a change. This time, however, the change wasn't all that different. I decided to change my major to Computer Science (i wouldn't have to take the Business classes). By this time it was 1994 and I had been in college for 7 years, but I wasn't always a full-time student and I also had taken a year off in 1989 to see what I could do in the work world. I worked two jobs, I did security from 6pm to 1:30am and then worked at Roche Labs from 2am to 10am. God, looking back I am so glad I am not doing that work now. Both were low paying and 3rd shift work is not easy to get used to (and I didn't really enjoy the work; although the one saving grace to my security job was that it gave me time to read some books that I liked). I would get home at 10am from the labs and I couldn't sleep. I went three days without sleep. I remember I started hearing things (I thought someone was talking to me, when in actuality they weren't). I would also find myself writing strange sentences that made no sense or didn't have any relevance as to what I was doing at that time. It was quite bizarre.
I also remember the summer of 1989 I worked for Merry Maids cleaning people's houses. I did the best I could do and I think I made people very happy. I remember I cleaned a toilet at one customer's house that had water stains on the inside porcelain. There is a special cleaner we use for that, which is a stone. I forget what kind of stone it is but it's just a little stone. It takes the stain right off. The only trouble is you have to stick your hand into the toilet (and I mean the part of the toilet where the waste goes, i.e. number one and number two). Of course I did wear rubber gloves but it was still not my cup of tea. I do remember the home owner commenting to my supervisor that the toilet looks fantastic or something to that effect. It did make me feel good and proud of myself that I made her happy. Even though it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling, I knew that this was not going to be a career for me. I wanted to go back to school and still try it in the hopes that just maybe it might work out even though I had no idea what I was doing.
However, it was now 1994 and I had given it the ol' college try (no pun intended). If I didn't really try before (and I think I did) I really tried hard this time as a Computer Science major. I went to the computer lab as often as I could to work on my programs for my Pascale class. Unfortunately I just couldn't get my programs to work and I remember another student would help me to get them working correctly. I just felt inside that I was going no where fast. I knew that I couldn't keep doing what I was doing. I decided to take a leave from college, with the possiblity in the back of my mind, that I might return someday. Of course I didn't know when and I even doubted I would ever go back. I just knew that at this time I needed to move on.
To what, I had no idea...
posted by Conundrum of My Mind at 1/12/2006 10:51:00 AM
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