Sophomoritis
As I sit in a campus coffee shop--and after doing an hour of symbolic logic that situates me at barely over halfway done with graphite on my hand and carpal tunnel looming--I find myself frustrated by the ridiculous things one must do to earn a BA.
Now mind you, a part of me did this to myself when I joined the honors program as a sophomore. I'd taken a less high-brow version of this class, but the professor (read: competent TA) made it relevant. I loved Phil 1500. I averaged a 99 on those exams. Could I do that now? Maybe, if I had any level of motivation on the horizon. But mostly, I find myself disenchanted by a professor continuously out-of-town who'll stop mid-problem to tell us in a pedantic soliloquy that he knows his handwriting is terrible. Moreover, the grad student is interesting, comprehensible, and has a beautiful accent. When and why does a class become so high-brow that a TA is no longer worthy...but he can still teach the recitations and basically whenever the professor doesn't want to? I mean, the professor's all like, "I'll probably do this wrong, but G. will correct me." When did that become the goal.
Basically, it's week 13, my hand is sore, my caffeine is not sufficient, and this anecdotal professor is the worst I've had. So while most of this is my problem (and mind you, I'm in no real danger of failing this woeful class), shouldn't a professor be remotely competent and inspiring? My others have been. And when all the rhetoric you hear pre-college is a bunch of private school kids gloating that they aren't taught by TAs, perhaps the emphasis should be on having an instructor who does their job. (And gets adequate compensation for doing so, but that's another story....)
