I have a problem called American Heritage. Let me rephrase that for all you nonBYU-ers, because that might sound suspiciously unpatriotic.
I hate my class called American Heritage. Let me list the reasons why.
1. It is boring. So boring. America has a lovely history. Do we really have to ruin it with such an awful class?
2. The exams are the worst ever. Really. Going to lecture, lab, doing the reading, etc. makes almost no difference on my grades, give or take 5 points. Granted, I am not the best student ever, but I do try. I do put effort into my classes. And I like to see results of that effort. But when the best test grade from your section is a 73%, there is something to worry about. Or not. Because it is graded on a curve.
3. It is a freshman class and I am not a freshman. There are millions of freshman, all vying for a good seat in the JSB Auditorium, and I get accidentally {I hope...} groped every single Monday and Wednesday as I fight for a seat. By little freshman. Ugh.
{JSB=Joseph Smith Building. BYU campus is a classic example of how much we Mormons love acronyms. With things like CTR, LDS, & EQP, it's no surprise that our campus is full of MARBs, JFSBs, JKBs, etc.}
4. I am supposed to be writing a 5 page paper on the role that agency played in the constitutional development of the country. Right now. It is due at 8:00 am. I have one page. Wish me luck on the rest of the pretend stuff that I will be writing.
5. I sit next to a little freshman who makes almost perfect scores on everything. That's not doing much for me in the academic confidence department.
American Heritage is a killer class. I took it when I got back from the mission and scared all the freshman girls who didn't expect to be in a class with an RM.
ReplyDeleteThat freshman in your class? He's a robot.
ReplyDeleteThat class was the WORST! And because it's in the JSB Auditorium, it is so insanely easy to fall asleep in those soft chairs the second the lights go off. I honestly cannot believe how insanely hard the tests are for that class! Ridiculous. Maybe BYU is playing a really not funny joke on us and will someday take the grade from American Heritage off our transcripts. That would be lovely and would raise my GPA significantly. Also, I took it my first semester of Freshman year; Worst. Idea. Ever. If I were to do it again, (And I NEVER will!) I would wait until at least my Junior Year to take it.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you a story about why I hated American Heritage more than any other class I took at BYU. More than Statistics, Geology (I actually loved that class), Physical Science, Biology, (insert any science or math class in here)...
ReplyDeleteMy TA was one of those who prided themselves on having students get bad grades. She told us right before the first exam that she graded the essays more harshly than the other TA's, but not to worry because the curve was determined by individual sections.
Well, turns out, the curve was determined by the whole 900 student class, not by individual sections, and she decided to tell us this on our last day of class, all the while grading our tests the same.
Considering the average score for our section was a 40% and the average score for the class was a 75%, I was surprised when I actually scraped by with a D+ (the only D I've ever gotten in my life).
Don't get me wrong. I love history. I got A's in every single one of my Art History classes (which was my minor) and I heard so many people complain about how hard those classes were.
So in conclusion, there is something wrong with that class. Not the students, but the class.
Whew, sorry about that rant. I could go on and on about it. I am obviously very passionate about the subject :)