by Arielle EstebanPicking a college course is one of the most important decisions in your entire college career. It affects your entire life and sets the crucial tone on how your entire semester is going to be. From your sleep schedule, your time to socialize, and even your laundry cycle, a college course is either going to make or break you. An easy course with a brilliant and attentive professor is going to make the semester smooth sailing and allows room for you to love what you’re studying; however, a hard course with a professor who does not seem to care for his students is going to make you hate the entire collegiate system—whether or not you already despise it.
A college course is so crucial for your wellbeing and sanity as you go through college that should you have the misfortune of taking a terrible course and are past the withdrawal deadline, this article looks through the feelings you go through. Taking a bad college course can be best summarized through 5 stages similar to the 5 Stages of Grief. 1. Denial It’s the first day of class and already you’re exchanging looks with your seat mate when the professor hands out the syllabus and speaks to the class in a condescending manner that screams “I could not care less about teaching.” However, you suck it up and think, maybe this professor is just going through a rough day or maybe they’re just trying to weed out the students who aren’t as interested in taking this course. Despite the number of students who promptly leave the classroom, you wave off the small feeling of doubt and don’t withdraw, thinking, “Maybe this won’t be so bad.” And so it goes. 2. Anger It’s been three weeks and you realize how the class is too far gone into the curriculum to even think about withdrawing. But it still doesn’t help and you’re just mad at yourself for not following the kids who left and not being able to understand any of the material being taught but more so at the professor. Do you not care that some of us want to actually learn? No? Okay. Nothing has prepared you for the feelings of frustration and anger that you have towards the class and the professor’s mandatory attendance policy that’s keeping you from taking a break at least once. Worst of all, your brief background in high school on economics does nothing to help you out on the piles of homework you have sitting on top of your desk. And now you just want to throw all the papers into the shredder down the hall—but that’d mean failing. Ugh. 3. Bargaining At this point you don’t really see a reason to hate anyone and you’re just hoping/praying/begging that your professor would just let you pass the class. It’s not even about getting an A or becoming good friends with your professor or TA; you just don’t want to ever have to retake this class. You tell yourself to go to office hours everyday for the class, take all the extra credit opportunities, and even laugh at all your professor’s cringe-worthy jokes just so you can avoid retaking the class and by the end, getting at least a C. 4. Depression At this point you’ve gone into a state of despair and looking at your homework always makes you want to cry. Your coping mechanism has been to use caffeine and sugar to replenish the energy you’ve spent wallowing in self-pity. You’ve even resorted to stress eating—be it binging Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or going on Netflix marathons in hopes that you can distract yourself from this black hole you’ve been sucked into. But not all hope is lost because if you hold on a little longer, you’re almost through with the semester! 5. Acceptance When it comes to the final stage in the process of grief, it does not always mean that you’ll be alright and as if nothing happened. It’s the opposite, really, but you just learn to cope with the loss as a permanent part of your life and it won’t always feel good. It’s the same when it comes to reluctantly accepting that you may not do as well in this course or enjoy the course as you’d expected. By this stage you’ve accepted that there is nothing you can do to save your grades, (try as you might) like the professor, or cooperate with your group mates. So you might as well just try to make it through the two hours of the course lecture and hope that you can pass the course. No matter how bad a college course may be, there’s always a learning point in the end. You should not let your entire college experience be defined by a bad course because everyone—and I do mean everyone, will go through at least two or three classes like this—be it a course that’s required for your major or an elective. It’s also worthwhile to think that despite the letdown of taking that particular course, you walk away knowing yourself better and fully convinced that you are not suited to be in that field of study. So give yourself a pat on the back for surviving and take a deep breath because at least it’s finally over. a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|