“Too Academical”
- on 03.10.09
- Diary Entry
- 5 Comments
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
Dear Diary,
You won’t believe this one! A few weeks ago I had advisement with an entering First-Time Freshman majoring in Engineering. His timing was right so he was able to enroll in all the classes he needed which as you can imagine is not always the case. During our session he mentioned that he would like to take a wakeboarding class but unfortunately the class conflicted with ALL of his morning classes and there were no alternative sections. I explained the situation and suggested he take it in a future semester…especially since it would be an elective. He agreed, said thank you and left.
End of story?…Not quite. Two weeks later I received this email from him:
Yipes! Of course I called him and asked if he understood the ramifications of what he was asking. He assured me he did. Curious, I asked if his parents agreed with his plan…to which he replied “they just want me to be happy!”.
Hmmmmm…so I asked one last time if he was sure, explaining that once I changed his schedule it was highly unlikely that he would be able to re-enroll in those classes. He was adamant. So I did as he requested.
Two days later, after what I assume was a “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!” conversation with his parents I receive another email asking if he could possibly get back into the Intro to Engineering class he had dropped. Too bad he didn’t listen. I hope his first hard-knock lesson in college wasn’t “too academical”!
Loading ...
Email This Post
Feel free to comment on the diary entry or send a private note to the author.
It’s amazing what students (especially freshmen) think will be OK with their parents! Your story also also illustrates why it is so important that we document everthing. I can just imagine the student (or his parents) complaining to our Dean a couple of years in the future that his advisor gave him bad advice and that’s why he can’t graduate on time!
Some students just do not realize that institutions of higher education is just that…a place where you come to get more education on a more difficult level…not where you revert back to preschool where the teacher (or in this case) an advisor does everything for you!
That was a good one! I just hope the student enjoyed the wakeboarding class. If he seriously wants Engineering (which I question) it may just be the last non-”academical” class he gets to take.
It’s amazing to me that with all the technology available, students will ask if we are to register for them. I will explain excitedly that registration is online and it can be done anywhere–you don’t need my assistance. Most students will look at me as if to say, ‘please do it for me.’ I will even share with them how long lines were back in the day when registration was manual and had to take place on campus and the process took a week or longer to get a course…