i’ve started my last semester as an undergraduate. there’s no need for me to repeat the same things i say every semester about school. i have no more sweeping generalizations to add to this long, long tale of my college career. i’ll tell you about the new classes that i’m in.

EE 4240 - Linear Circuit Design
When I was a freshman, this class was one of those that i saw in the course catalog at the tender age of 18, deciding right then and there that this class was my end goal. It sounded like the keystone in the glorious academic arch that i was going to build. I was anxious to get through all of the mundane classes and uninteresting electives to get into this one. We have yet to really delve into the subject matter, but as i’ve discovered from the first week of class, the outlook is pretty dismal. The details of its failure to live up to my expectations are, to my readers, wholly uninteresting. I am, to say the least, disappointed.

CSC 1254 - Programming in C++ II
Programming is something that, as a geek, is under my requisite list of skills. I like to program. I find efficient code to be something beautiful and elegant. The writing of such code is virtuous in my eyes, like logic to a Vulcan. The Vulcans, by the way, would have written the best code ever. Anyways, the last time that i’ve written in the C++ language was around 5 years ago. I picked it up quickly as a freshman taking Programming I at Mercer, and then when I transferred to LSU, couldn’t seem to fit Programming II into my ambitious class schedules until now, the very last semester of my undergraduate life. A lot of proverbial water has gone under the proverbial bridge. Meanwhile, the professor is a small old lady who “teaches” by constantly posing questions to the class, and then when no one answers, replies with “What are you thinking! Data structures! It’s obvious!” This class has long assignments and strict grading guidelines. I’m not a fan.

Philosophy 2025 - Bioethics
Now here’s a class that i thought, as a general education requirement (GE), was going to look, act, and feel like a GE. Easy. Mildly informative, at best. I was wrong, once again. I’m very conflicted about this class. This is my first philosophy class, and i’m reading these obtuse articles and theoretical discussions about morality and ethics. While i’m absolutely incensed by some of the notions that i’m reading of, i happen to be at just the place in my academic career where i’m doomed not to care enough to do anything about it. Let me explain. I’m such a beginner to this whole philosophy thing. Apparently, when you’re studying philosophy, you have to begin at the very beginning of philosophical history (in the West, that’s usually Greece). Then, you can use the names of those ancient people to describe the world around you now. You can only then start to talk about things like Neo-Platonic, Kantian-meta-ethical theory. Everybody’s philosophy can be compartmentalized. So, when I’m reading some philosopher’s terribly biased and jargon-filled literature, from the standpoint of someone who hasn’t been “enlightened” by “classical” philosophy, i’m completely infuriated with the audacity of their speech and the superiority in their tone. Perhaps its just these few articles that we’ve started with in the course, but every time i read something that rubs me the wrong way, i have to stop and enumerate all the ways i think the author is at fault. Now, for the problem: normally, this would probably be a healthy learning experience, contributing to my academic success in the course. However, like i have said before… this is gen. ed. requirement… and it’s far too late in the game for me to pursue any sort of philosophy study so that i can even begin to attack their flaws. I have no inclination to do the reading, nor the time left in college to take all the introductory courses. I am armed only with my particular worldview, a loose grasp of the appropriate language, and the strong desire to get the hell out of school.

EE 4450 - Distribution System Design
Quite possibly the most practical class at LSU for entering the job field. Taught by an industry professional, an engineer who owns and works at his own consulting firm, not a professor. His emphasis is on teaching the applicable skills and mindset that can immediately be used and built upon in a lifelong engineering career. He makes sense, speaks plainly, and basically embodies the kind of teacher that you always wanted.

Those are my classes. i am going to be involved in many things these next few months. by october i’ll have gone to a lot more job interviews and will be deciding on a full-time position, studying and taking the FE (professional engineering) exam, trying to keep up with my classes, and always working in my off-time as computer-repair tech.

when i graduate…

and i’ll just leave that ellipsis there forever, like a paragraph that is staring bittersweetly into the future. because thats the way i feel.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 10:49 pm and is filed under journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.