Switching Schools?

I am so proud of my high school. Always have been. I went there for four years and loved it the whole time. Even when I was failing classes, I was learning so much. Some of the teachers from that school hold the top ranks on my mental list of the smartest people I know. It was a good school.

I am not really proud of my university. It’s a prestigious school, with a wonderful reputation. I’m lucky to have gotten in, with my high school grades what they were. The campus is beautiful. The people are friendly, and there are some super silly traditions that appeal to me immensely. 

But honestly, the whole experience feels a bit like a joke. I’ve been there for two years and I don’t feel like I’m any better off for it. I haven’t learned anything in my classes, and it bothers me.  I’m smart, but I’m no genius. I have a lot to learn, and I’m paying an arm and a leg for these people to teach me, or at least point me in the direction I need to teach myself, and they aren’t doing either. I’ve learned more in my own free time these past few years than I have in classes, or doing projects for classes. That’s not okay with me.

The English department is decent. Not quite up to my standards, still haven’t learned a lot in those classes, but the professors at least seem very knowledgeable about their subject areas, which I can’t really say of other professors. But the education department, is laughable. No one likes it. It’s unorganized (a trait I’ve grown to associate with the entire university) and  the staff don’t communicate with one another. I’ve had the head of the department lose my paperwork. I’ve filled out four forms with the same information on each, just formatted differently. I’ve been told one thing by my education advisor, a different thing from the head of department, and a third thing entirely from the department secretary. No where have I been able to find a complete list of requirements for teaching licenses. I have had to piece together requirements listed on several different forms and make my own list.

My fiancé, who is going for his masters degree through the same program, took a required class called “Integrating Classroom Technology.” The professor had never taught before, so I wonder how much he really knew about technology in the classroom. How was he supposed to know the difference between effective and ineffective strategies, beyond his own personal preference, if he had never run a classroom prior to teaching about classroom technology? (as a side note: man only had a bachelors degree, even though he was teaching a graduate class. I don’t believe that degrees define worth or skill, but he already, in my opinion, was not qualified. If they weren’t having someone qualified, they could at least pick someone who was unqualified who had been through the same process!)

I don’t want to finish at my university, but I’m too far into my English degree to transfer. I would much rather have a degree from a school I can be proud of. It doesn’t even need to be as good as Sturgis was. Just needs to be better than this.

I recently found out that the other college in the area DOES do teaching licensure (despite having been told to the contrary in the past). They also have a program where someone who already has a degree can just take classes for their teaching license. I’m nearly finished with my English degree, and was planning to spend a million more years getting my teaching license anyways, but now I’m considering just finishing my English degree really fast, and switching to the other school. Dropping my Education stuff temporarily. I haven’t made the final decision yet, I need to do a lot more research before I can, but that’s what I’m leaning towards right now. 

And I think it might end up being cheaper that way anyways.