I’m not going to be nice for a few minutes–try to contain your shock.
There is something that has always bothered me about being an English major. I can’t tell if it is worse in grad school or not. It is certainly more noticeable in grad school.
The makeup of the department (student-wise) is: a few guys, a few older women, and the clucking chickens. The clucking chickens are generally on the younger side in at least behavior and usually in age as well. These are the (mostly white) girls who are studying English because it is a genteel, proper, middle-class sort of thing to study. I can’t tell what most of them want to *do* with the degree. Some of them want to be teachers because it is a genteel sort of occupation. It is really fucking obvious that many of them consider teaching a reasonable thing to do before they get married. (*cough* I’m going to sit in my glass house and enjoy the weather now.)
But the point is that sitting in class with these chicks is often painful. They don’t talk, they squee in high pitched voices about, “OHMYGOD THE CRUISE I AM GOING ON THIS SUMMER IS GOING TO BE SO COOL SO I AM GOING TO THE GYM SEVEN DAYS A WEEK SO I CAN LOOK GOOD IN A BIKINI AND OHMYGOD I’M TOTALLY GOING TO STARVE MYSELF FOR A WEEK BEFORE THE CRUISE BECAUSE THAT WAY I CAN HAVE WAY TOO MUCH ALCOHOL AND NOT LOOK LIKE A BLOATED COW AND…” I don’t think they ever pause for breath. They make me twitch. (This was a conversation I had no choice but to listen to this week.) The room is generally divided into the silent half (the guys, the older women, and uhm… me) and the way-too-talkative half. The clucking chickens also have side conversations while the teacher is talking and that drives me batshit insane. It is so rude. I think this would bother me less if they were actually stupid, but they aren’t. They have interesting and insightful things to say during class. Why do they have to mix it with being the worst stereotypes of females possible?
*sigh*
We don’t get nearly as many clucking chickens in the museum studies department, if only because (a) a lot of them are already married [what the hell? why is that], (b) a lot of them are in their early 30s, and the ones who aren’t are either ancient or right out of college and thus serious, and (c) it’s on par thanklessnesswise with teaching, but it’s a more obscure, nonprofit thing to do, so the not-so-braindead cheerleaders don’t often think of it. Also, Jane Austen never wrote a romanticized novel about it.
Or maybe it was a Bronte. Either way.
I told you the story about the St. Mary’s girls who were waxing rhapsodic in their dulcet Valley tones about how useful an English degree was? I must have. It was hilarious
Ah, yes. The M-R-S degree majors.
Elementary Education was the program which was burdened with the majority of the clucking chicken types when I was in school — and they were a large part of the reason why I did the “cutting off my nose to spite my face” thing of not sending $15 to the State of North Carolina to officially have my teaching certificate. I’d earned it, my NTE scores were through the roof, and I actually did feel something Very Right about the nine weeks I spent doing my student teaching with my two senior English classes. But my obtaining teaching credentials was a part of what was, at that time, my greater life plan of pursuing a PhD in Educational Psychology, and I was absolutely damned if I was going to use a teacher’s certificate as a career fallback, as most of them were. I felt then (and still do now) that teaching is a vocation — a calling — not a time-filler.
Yes, I know that sounds hugely self-righteous of me, but I really don’t care. I felt/still feel very ranty about this subject, and it pisses me off that the attitude is so prevalent. And to prove my point, the number 2 definition for the word “fallback” at dictionary.com is this:
“2. something or someone to turn or return to, esp. for help or as an alternative: His teaching experience would be a fallback if the business failed.”
OK, I’ll stop using your rant as a place for my own rant.
I feel for you. I must say, as much as I deplore having to witness the lack of written language skills in the postings from my fellow grad students, at least CyberCampus is sparing me the torture of having to share physical classroom space with the biddies.
Tell them they should hurry up and “settle” for a husband, and get out of your hair.
To steal a phrase from kjb, Awesome.
TNG4 question
Can you call or email me as soon as possible with a rough number of students I should expect so I can print handouts? Gracias.
takes a deep breath preparing for the violent responce
This may be function of the school your going to. Granted I wasn’t an english major but anthro pulls a simular demographic (as it doesn’t actually prepare you for any sort of gainful employment) and thats not the crowd. NU liberal arts grad programs pull the folks who sit around and think they’re having hyper intellectual and deep discussions, that have no connection with reality.
Word.
like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhnRuJBHLs