University ups and downs

studentphil

Quasar wrote:

Phil, you have been whinging about the woes of your course for months now, in the Arms and DT.

Face it: Philosophy is not the subject for you. You get in a muddle very easily with simple sentences, while philosopy requires a considerable clarity, flexibility and fluency of thinking and articulation. Sorry to be blunt but you don'd display these qualities, which explains why you are having such a difficult time, and why no lecturer/tutor/educational system in creation can help you. You want others to make it so that you can learn this subject, but that is just not possible.

Someone should have told you these things at an early stage. Maybe they did. If they didn't THAT is where they have failed you, and nowhere else.

You should definitely seek a course more suited to your undoubted talents, but strict logical thinking is not one of them.

I know that now that I am not really suited to the subject and I suppose it is my own fault for thinking I could cope at it.

studentphil

Ruby_Pudding wrote:

I'm very sorry but that is life. You can choose to face it head on or you can cave in. You drive people to distraction because you moan and winge and you do not take on board a single piece of advice when it is asked for and given.

Tell me - what one thing are you going to take away from this dicussion tonight that will make you change even a tiny thing about yourself tomorrow? Anything at all? If there isn't you really haven't been listening to what has been said and that is going to be your downfall in life.

That I wrongly blame the world for my own internal feelings.
That I picked a subject that is not suited to my abilities and so to ever expect to be successful at it was stupid.

Quasar

studentphil wrote:

I know that now that I am not really suited to the subject and I suppose it is my own fault for thinking I could cope at it.

Very good, phil, I applaud your admission. Now you have to decide how to proceed. You can't keep spending valuable studying time on the internet complaining about a situation you are not willing to do anything about.

studentphil

But I forget in my moments of upset that in a way by become a graduate of my university will be fulfilling a dream that I never thought was possible, that I have been able to do okay in a subject that would be the most unlikeliest for me to do well at.

So in a way in graduating, I will have met a dream, but sometimes I get blinded by the fact that it wont be a first. My intelligence and gifts do not really rest in writing and reading and to do the subject I do and to achieve what I have to date in exams is really outstanding in that context.

Ruby_Pudding

studentphil wrote:

That I wrongly blame the world for my own internal feelings.

Feelings are good - it's OK to have them and to express them. It's even better when you realise how you feel comes from entirely within you. External influences may cause them but as an individual you control them.

You are not a bad person for not enjoying the course. You will let no one down if you leave now. However, you may just surprise yourself and finish it with a pass which will allow you to jump to the next stage of your life. Nothing terrible is going to happen to you if you get a third or a 2.2. No one will die and the world will keep spinning on it's axis.

Make this moment the one where you take responsibility for how you feel. Forget blame and negative thoughts because they are of help to no-one. Move forward onto better things from this minute forward.

studentphil

I am in a sense proud to think that I was once the special needs school kid who no one really expected to pass any GCSEs let alone a degree. I can feel huge achievement in that.

Ruby_Pudding

studentphil wrote:

I am in a sense proud to think that I was once the special needs school kid who no one really expected to pass any GCSEs let alone a degree. I can feel huge achievement in that.

Good because that IS a huge, huge achievement Phil and you should be massively proud of yourself. I think perhaps that explains why you feel you may fail if you do not walk out with a first from university. That's a natural feeling but you are putting way too much pressure on yourself and that's why you are feeling so depressed. Believe me when I say getting a third is OK, getting a 2.2 is OK - hell, just passing the course is OK. You have got this far and that is proof enough you are good enough. Now, just take a step back, aim for a third and work as hard as you possibly can and you will get through this.

But no more blame, no more moaning OK?

studentphil

Ruby_Pudding wrote:

Good because that IS a huge, huge achievement Phil and you should be massively proud of yourself. I think perhaps that explains why you feel you may fail if you do not walk out with a first from university. That's a natural feeling but you are putting way too much pressure on yourself and that's why you are feeling so depressed. Believe me when I say getting a third is OK, getting a 2.2 is OK - hell, just passing the course is OK. You have got this far and that is proof enough you are good enough. Now, just take a step back, aim for a third and work as hard as you possibly can and you will get through this.

But no more blame, no more moaning OK?

I will try not to moan and I need not blame as I do know what the blame is really covering up for-my own failings.

Thanks!:D

sunflower_rainbow

Failing is a very harsh word to use Phil. Dont use it, it just re-enforces any negative energy you have, consciously or unconsciously, towards your subject. Which, in turn will make you believe you can't succeed, and that is probably partly the way you feel the way you do. So, in addittion to no moaning and blaming, no use of word with negative conotations with regards to your work!

So, back to the main question - i dont necessarily think using postgrads are a good idea. As always, some are good and some are bad, just like lecturers. However, i have to say, my experience of postgrad's hasn't been very impressive. For example, i had one post grad in my 2nd yr of uni who was unable to answer ANY question we asked but said she would endevour to find the answers...we never saw any evidence of these answers. Furthermore, she would fill a 2 hour lecture with atleast 40 mins of video clips showing example of the same thing, or visually inadequate video clips, to which she would say "you can't really see it, but it's just here (points)".

Yes, that was just one example (i do have more) and i can appreciate that there are fabby post grad lecturers out there (i have had good experiences too) but i think the teaching skills of post grads should be monitored more carefully and the students comments of them taken into greater consideration. It is after all our education, that we are paying for and as such i believe we are entitled to the best. At the moment it is far from it in most areas and levels of education...

cupid_s

Hi phil.
As you know I demonstrate to students. I don't take tutorials - there aren't really any on science courses but sometimes I see people who I know are out of their depth here. You have said you didn't pick a course that was well suited to your abilities, so if you don't understand something often it might take a long time to explain. Sometimes people ask me things and I have to refer them to someone else because just from watching them for a few hours I can pick up that they're quite slow it'll take me a good hour of explaining. And doing a PhD is very time consuming - myself and numerous other postgrads just don't have an extra hour to explain something to a student.

Unfortunately the fees everyone pays still doesn't cover everything, nowhere near. And there aren't enough lecturers for all tutorials to be taken by someone more highly qualified than a postgrad. If there were enough lecturers fees would have to go up by thousands and if that were the case chances are you and most other students wouldn't have bothered to go to uni in the first place because of the expense.

I look that it's better to get some help of someone more highly qualified than you who has been through the whole process themselves, than to not have the tutorials etc in the first place.

You said for many things you're getting around average marks. So it's obvious not everyone is perfect. Probably 40% (a guess) are worse at things than you are so you can't be doing that badly. Get some perspective! But on the other hand many people are doing better than you. They manage and therefore (as you've kinda admitted) the problem surely lies with you moreso than the staff