Math Hell

I had to take a "College Math" course as part of my pre-req's. I went in on the first night thinking "OK, we will review some polynomial equations, maybe a little trig thrown in for some good measure."

Boy was I wrong!

The subject matter consisted of us learning factoring, Venn Diagrams, fundamental geometry and other meaningless stuff. I think at least half of what we covered where concepts that I taught my 6th grade students 10 years ago. Please tell me we haven't regressed that much in the educational system. Oh and did I mention my favorite? Yes we had to do the dreaded "group projects". I was lucky enough to get a partner that felt the same way I did about the things.

Now this is a math course that is taught to future nursing students, so you think the metric system would be covered. WRONG. Why on earth would they have us study something we actually would use?

So putting the content of the class aside, the humor of the situation was the instructor.

Having come from an educational background, I have met my fair share of math teachers and they tend to have some logical thinking. This woman taught in the high school setting for over 30 years. Therefore, I figured she would understand the concept of teaching to your audience. That was so silly of me.

You are a math teacher and you are teaching adults who are going to be working in an environment where they need to be absolutely clear on what is going on. Therefore, they are going to be more anal and inquisitive than a 16 year old geometry student. This MAY mean that we are going to challenge your problem solving by coming up with multiple ways of getting something done.

The solution to getting the concept through to the class is not to repeat the same thing in a louder voice, the solution is to rephrase your answer or to listen to what our question might be and not what you THINK we are asking. Louder doesn't mean that it will penetrate our skulls with understanding. Louder = headache

It got to the point where I started to time the moment when she became unglued from the challenges to her logic and her inability to clearly explain concepts. Some days it was an hour, other days she lasted three.

Despite all of this I cut her a fair amount of slack like I do all my instructors. I understand what it is like, I've been there. HOWEVER, when you finally cross that line, it's not pretty.

The first night of class while discussing our research papers she told us we could either attach the reference materials we used (like it said in the syllabus) or we could just cite the resources. We were taking our final and she was grading our last paper we had to write. All of a sudden she says "Class, it clearly states that you are to attach your reference materials to your papers, some of you didn't do that." The immediate response was 18 people looking at her with dropped jaws and bugged out eyes. Keep in mind that we had already turned in at least two other papers by this point and nothing had been said. Naturally, one of the more outspoken members of our class reminded her of what she had said. The response was the typical annoyed, "Well, OK".

At that point she crossed the line - interrupting us during a test with this inconsistent drivel was the last straw for me. We get the opportunity to fill out surveys on the classes. Let's just say we could have roasted marshmallows with the flaming review I gave her.

A Few Words About My Pre-req Classes

This post isn't a funny one. It's an observation of my pre-req classes that I had to endure.

The nursing program that I am attending is associated with a college in my state which I have affectionately named Pickle U. In order to get the associates degree in health science that is awarded along with the diploma from the nursing school we had to take 18 credits with Pickle U. I could give a rats ass about the associates degree, I just want the education to be able to pass the NCLEX test after graduation.

Anyway, if you already have college credits you still need to take 18 hours with Pickle U in order to get this degree. So between January and June of this year I completed my required credits with the college. Now, I had to take Anatomy & Physiology, Developmental Psych and College Math (each class was held one day a week, at night for 4 hours each) because while I had classes that covered those areas, they didn't count for some reason. I took these classes with my fellow future nursing students, so a majority of the class was filled with people who paid attention to details and wanted to know what are the rules were so they knew what was expected. Let me tell you, I will be going to school with some smart people and I don't mean just book smart.

That made 10 credits I had to take, which meant I needed 8 more to complete the 18. So I chose to take online Art Appreciation, Intro to Computers and Intro to Business. Naturally, I LOVED the online classes because I could work at my own pace and didn't have to sit through lecture after working all day. However, I found one thing really disturbing with these online classes. There was a lot of busy work involved, but nothing really demanding or mind challenging. The classes were filled with half off campus people like me and half regular college students. I was astounded at the class averages for homework assignments and tests. Tests were always open book with plenty of time to take them, assignments were manageable but somewhat time consuming and logging on a few times a week to participate in discussion didn't take that long. Yet, the class average was always around a 72%. I took a correspondence class in college (History of the Reformation) and it was 50x's as intense as these classes. I can't believe how much the material was brought down to such a basic level and yet people couldn't rise to the challenge. The worst part is I had to pay for the experience in time and in dollars.

Now, my A&P class and Developmental Psych were great classes. I learned a lot and was challenged in each. I give full credit to the instructors who were consistent and realistic of their expectations. I'm going to save the math experience for another whole post. It was quite a trip.

So there you have it. The two classes I needed the most I loved and they had great instructors. I loved my Art class, but it was just busy work. The rest were a complete waste of my time and resources. I wish they would have just let me pay the money for the credits and be done with it.

Oh and lest someone thinks that I am bitching because I didn't do well... I got all A's. It's the first 4.0 GPA I have ever seen. I'm enjoying it while it lasts :)

Jumping through Hoops

I think that nursing schools weed out some students just through their admissions process.

If you want to get into a nursing school these are the steps you might have to go through before you can step through the door:

Fill out an application
Get 3 (but I got 4) letters of recommendation
Go to the Post office and get a cashiers check for application fee
Get all of your schools to send transcripts (I'm surprised they didn't want one from my mothers obstetrician saying what an exceptional fetus I was)
Write an essay
Take an entrance test
Wait while the Student Affairs Committee decides if they want you in the school
Get sick to your stomach when you see the letter in the mail
Jump up and down when you read that you have been accepted
Freak out when you realize what you have just done
Go back to the Post Office to get a cashiers check for the admissions fee
Undergo a background check (This wasn't so bad, the background check to get my temp job was much more intense)
Take all your prerequisite courses
Get a physical with bloodwork and pee in a cup
Make sure our immunizations are up to date (I've had 4 in the last month - my body is SO not happy with me)
Get a TB Test
Pay tuition
Get stethoscope and shoes
Follow up with getting more things faxed from your doctor
All the while keeping my fingers crossed that everything that you mail gets to the school on time.

It has been like a part time job getting some of this done.

Now keep in mind that this was only one school and that in the beginning I applied to three schools. Luckily the one I wanted the most accepted me and I could jettison the other two schools requirements.

As of today I believe that I have everything in and I am ready to go.

Will it ever end?

I was SO hopeful that I had everything I needed into the school regarding my health forms. Alas, this is not the case, I still have to chase down some loose ends. I think I will be writing a post about the process of getting into nursing school. I think they weed people out just through the admissions process. I'm beginning to wonder if their motto is "If you can survive getting in, then you will survive getting out."