February 14

I had time today so I figured I may as well get the homework done for this class so I didn't have to think about it until class. So, I read the assigned reading.

It was chapter 3, Identity Politics, of some book whose title I don't know by Eboo Patel. This reading was absorbing and actually good. However, I don't know what finding your niche based on your race, or not, has to do with leadership. I wonder if it will be a pattern that anything good in this class has nothing to do with it. I do have a few things about this reading that bothered me, but they don't have much to do with the reading itself. I hate where the reading ended. Maybe it's because I read so much, but it bothers me that the story wasn't finished. The chapter ended in the middle of relationship problems between the main character and his girl and, when our reading ended, he hadn't figured out what he would do about social justice and such. I realize the first part isn't necessary for this class, but I still want to know what happened to them, dammit. I'll probably read the book on my own later. Really, though, they should have finished the thread about what he would do about social justice since that's kind of what we're talking about in class...a little. Anyway, the other problem: the last two pages were sideways. This is yet another indicator to me of how little the people running this class care about it.

After our reading, we had to complete a survey. It was short, thank goodness, but there were some things about it that bothered me. Of course there were questions on rating things 1 through 5 and then there were questions where we could type our responses. The first question where we really responded asked what had help us learn material for this class. I'm wondering what they thought we might write. I don't think we've learned anything, so nothing has helped us learn. Also, the survey was titled “How is this class going so far?”, but that's not a question in the survey. The title isn't even close to one of the questions they asked. I realize that would be a vague question, but it would be helpful to them to know how we were liking their class and what they could change about it. Then again, that assumes that they want to know what we think of the class in the midst of it. I know we'll get to tell them our opinions at the end. Maybe next year's class will be lucky and this class won't be required.

On another note, to be in this class, you have to be in a certain honors program. One of my friends was so fed up with this class that she dropped being in the honors program so she wouldn't have to take the class anymore. I think that shows more than this blog ever could how terrible this class is.

However, just to show I'm not bitter, I think I'll give this class a valentine. It's the day for it after all.