12 May 2008

#105 - i can see through the b.s.

i am sitting in class, pretty much how i was 6 months ago. patho 2 in fall term. now i'm in patho 2 spring term. it's the same class (with different material and a different book). different teachers, different students. same b.s. we just took our second exam and coming into class this morning i hear rumblings from my fellow students about how frustrated they are with the class, their grades, the teachers, the stupid exams and the school. i can sympathize of course because i've been there. i am still frustrated about all the same things, BUT i am past caring.

don't get me wrong, i care about my education and school and becoming a good nurse. i care about knowing things i need to know to be that good nurse. i care about my future patients and giving them excellent nursing care. i care about passing this class and getting through the rest of school. what i don't care about is complaining about everything because i know it does not do good. one of my good friends in this cohort mentioned to the head of the nursing school that over 50% of the students in this class were concerned about their grades and frustrated with the teaching, etc. what does she say? basically in so many words: "f- you, figure it out together cause we're not going to help you" i was laughing to myself because i've been through this already. they SAY they want to help and they SAY they want to you be successful. yet their actions are quite different. when we asked them for help last time they said "oh well if you don't pass this term you'll come back and be superstars next time you take it." superstars.

well i didn't pass last time and now here i am, a superstar. it's a little easier the second time around. i am studying and reading and being a good student. i don't think i'll be getting an A this term but maybe if half the class fails, a B is superstar status! they tell us to get into a good study group and that way it'll be easier to learn, but it's pretty much like the blind leading the blind. no one knows what they will be testing us on. they give us a "test blueprint" which is supposed to say what the test is on, but really, it doesn't. there were questions on the exam that i don't think were written in english. their test questions are that bad. i've taken NCLEX style questions from a study book and did in the "A" range and then go to take their tests and end up more in the C range. that's just not right. where are they getting these questions?

getting all caught up in complaining about school is a waste of my time because it's not gonna do anything. i know the faculty know things. they've been nurses at some point (even if it was decades ago) and probably have a lot of knowledge. the problem is they do not teach us that material nor do they test on what they supposedly teach on. so basically when you are studying you have to guess what to focus on because it's not what you talk about in class or necessarily the reading assignments from the textbook. i feel all alone in the class and i know that i will pass somehow, but it's okay because i'm a superstar.

1 comment:

nure nezumi said...

haha, i totally sympathize with you on that! can't speak for your faculty, but i think generalizations can be made to all "higher education" facilities... they get caught up in being professors and testing and grading that they end up not teaching you what you really need to know (practical-wise) and what they test on is not what you need to know or what is important to the subject matter. it's just what's most testable. and that turns the whole process of learning and studying into a simple stimulus-response situation, so you're really not learning the material you're just learning how to produce the response they want. which is actually what i learned in college (and in high school) more than anything else, i learned how to give the exact answer the prof is looking for. it's a school culture thing. learn how to work the system and the system works for you! SUPERSTAR!