For those that have known me for a while know that I'm back in school and pursuing an English degree. I have grown to love writing and books and education. And I try to get as much out of every class that I take, especially the ones in my major (this should be obvious).
Well, last semester I took a class in Linguistics that I felt I didn't get much out of. It was grammar and usage and the professor just struggled at teaching the class the curriculum. I mean, I know it's a boring subject but she had a very poor strategy and didn't divert from it at all. For me (being 31and the majority of the class near my age) it was something that I hadn't seen in quite a while (over a decade) and some things I had never heard of or at least not in that vocabulary. This forced me and my study group to do a lot of self teaching. I survived the class with a solid B, but felt it had been a wasted credit.
I am currently taking a course in my major called Linguistics: Structure and Dialect. I'll have to admit that at the beginning of the semester I was hoping this class wouldn't need much attention because I am taking quite a load of classes. So, because I paid little attention, I have fallen behind and pretty much have a mountain to climb in order to get the grade I desire. Fortunately, we are going over a couple of chapters that correlate with last semester's course that I spoke of before and to my surprise I feel really confident in knowing the subject very well. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's because of last semester's instructor by any means, but I do have a greater knowledge of the content than I thought. I will chalk it up to her "forcing" us to work independently through the text with little instruction. I guess you really don't know how much you can do on your own until it's thrust upon you. I can now say, to a certain extent, that last semester's class wasn't a total loss. I would have rather had better instruction, of course, but I can move forward knowing that I did retain what I learned through my own reading and self-inquisition.
The rest of the semester, for this course at least, is looking a lot brighter. Good luck to all of us that are after that endless pursuit of knowledge.
