Returning to School

 I just posted that I was returning to school, well that’s not happening.  The assistant professor who is, doing whatever it is he does, refused to allow me into the class I requested even after I was given a permit to audit the class.  I thought it was because of my age and in a way, I believe that is true.
You see it was an independent study class.  For those of you who don’t know what that actually is, and I have to be honest here, I didn’t.  The really stupid thing about this was that no one at the U of M that I talked to could explain it to me either.  Now when I went to register and pay the fee for auditing this particular class, I wasn’t told that this would be a problem.  I just needed to get a permit to audit it.
This person is a graduate student, or whatever, working on whatever it is that he is working on for his masters or whatever it is he is trying to get and I’m sure he felt that I was not a good fit for his needs.  You see one of the things the students do is assist him while they are supposed to be able to choose the subject, they are interested in.  Yeah, right.
Now while I was trying to get this permit this assistant professor is shoving me off into a class that I had no interest in.  It was of no use to me and not something I was interested in.  Even after I got the appropriate permit for the class I requested from his own department, this (person) started sending out emails to everyone I think and shoving me back into this class I didn’t want.  Oh, the subject was Introduction to Films.  Please.  I was well aware of what that class was and sitting in a room watching movies, and in some cases, just certain scenes I have watched.  I can tell you why they are significate because I have seen a lot of them.  It is a class where you can push someone off to the back and ignore.
Now after about 40 emails back and fourth between then and me not one time was I given a straight explanation regarding what an independent class was, I finally had to look it up on the internet, and had I been given the option of choosing another class I wanted it would have been different, but I wasn’t.  This person kept pushing back into this one class.
There were other options I would have considered had someone been honest, or maybe just been more informed, with me this wouldn’t have turned into something that became something beyond a disappointment.  I couldn’t even get a straight answer from the president’s office.  I finally told the person I talked to there that I was done and hung up.  Afterwards I looked up what an independent class and sent the definition to the president’s office so they might avoid this issue in the future.  It won’t help I’m sure because to be honest with you, I got the feeling this place is run with the left hand not knowing what the right is doing and vice versa.
The kicker is, that once I understood what this class was, I knew it wasn’t the place I needed to be.  If I had been told this over a month ago when I was signing up for this class, I would have shrugged my shoulders and would have looked at something else I might have been interested in and pursued that.
So, if you’re an older person who is considering maybe taking a class or even going for a degree, do you’re research carefully.  Make sure you have all the answers you need and remember you have the right to follow through with whatever you might want to do.  Don’t let anyone stop you.  This hasn’t me.
I’ve learned more yesterday from my husband and daughter than I probably would have in any class that place had to offer me.  I’ve been teaching myself a lot of things over the past few years, I guess I just need to continue to homeschool myself.
Understand, I’m not saying this is a bad school, I’m just saying they may need to look at their auditing program and the way they handle possible older students.
Now I’m just going to fall back on my southern upbringing and say, “Well, God bless them.”