So one of my favorite things about college, believe it or not, is summer school – same number of credits but in an abbreviated time frame. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Get credit for your 3-, 4-, 5-unit class but not have to spend 16-20 weeks in a classroom for it? Sure; why not? Well, I suppose if you don’t really want to remember anything or if you want to operate at high stress for that amount of time, then it’s the perfect situation. Still, I really didn’t mind. I’ve found over the years that my best work has been done under pressure. I wouldn’t advise this style of studying/working, but I find my mental blocks aren’t as bothersome when I’m really pushed to the limit.
One of my first summer school classes was Speech 101. There was definitely no time to breathe in that class. I figured out my homework timeline once we received the schedule for the six-week course and determined that I would be working at full speed the entire time. Sadly, I had to tell the guy with whom I’d just embarked on a long-distance relationship that visits from me during that period were out of the question (class met twice a week and something important was occurring during every class for which I had to prepare – a speech, an evaluation or a quiz). Fortunately, he was willing to work with me on this and still came up to visit me on the weekends (when I had a brief reprieve from my self-imposed summer school prison sentence).
I started out so well. I was so proud of myself. My description speech (or whatever it was called) was on wedding traditions, and both my teacher and my classmates gave me high marks. I thought I was well on my way to earning an “A” for the semester. Well, not so much. My speeches got worse and worse from there (I really don’t know why). It’s not as bad as I make it out to be (my lowest speech grade was a “B”, I believe); looking back, I guess I still didn’t work as hard as I could have. As my grades steadily dropped, my chance for that “A” was drifting further and further out of reach. When I find myself working hard for a grade, then, yeah, I do expect to get that “A.” Just before the final exam, we received our grade points at that point in the class. I did some calculations, realized I could get 100% on the final and STILL not earn that “A” so I relaxed somewhat. It was a great weight off my shoulders once I realized that stressing out was pointless (and I did earn a “B” as my semester grade).
So I thought I’d learn from that experience about effort in a summer class. Years later, I took an upper-division astronomy class at CSUSM (Cal State San Marcos). I spent every evening, Monday through Thursday, for 6-8 weeks rushing from my 8-5 job at a commercial real estate brokerage, trying to zip through traffic on my motorcycle in order to make it to my class by 5:30-5:45 pm (I have no idea how I did it; I think class might’ve started at 6 pm). It was a pretty interesting class and despite the intensity of taking a university science class over the summer, I still even managed to factor in a trip out of town to visit a friend in Sacramento (have no idea how I made that work). Ever the multi-tasker, I completed one of my homework assignments as I made the drive from San Diego to Sacramento – doing the tasks as I stopped for fuel or a restroom break (estimating something about the moon – I don’t remember what). Again, I really don’t remember very much from that class. One of the things I do remember is that I learned I suffer from stress hives (which I’d never had before that). By the time we got to our two-hour final exam, I was an incredibly itchy mess of hives all over my legs and arms. I suppose the stress was worth it; I did manage to squeak by with an “A” (Hey, I’m quite proud of myself for that! I was amazed at my level of commitment – one of the most important things about opting to take a summer class).
I think I finally learned my lesson last summer. I decided to take a trig class last year at ARC as I try to complete all my math prereqs before I apply for the IT/Comp Sci program at CSU Monterey Bay. Figured I could do that AND still participate in the annual family vacation with my husband and in-laws, rather than take trig over the fall semester. Well, I tried. I re-e-e-e-a-lly TRIED to study while I was there. While the others were still asleep, I got up early in the morning to do my homework in the kitchen of the house where we were staying in Georgetown (1.5 hours from ARC – technically doable to vacation AND go to class). I don’t think I got past one page of homework. That was a bit of an exercise in failure. Oh, well; I did try. I ended up earning a “C” for my efforts, among other annoyances. I won’t do it again – one or the other but not both simultaneously (ever the student, I’m leaning towards summer school winning out).
Next week – Part VI: Pretenders to the throne are we.
LNR
Moments in Our Lives 