asta Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Ladies and Gentlemen, In a fit of mania, I signed up for an MA program in Humanities. Don't ask. The first required course is "Humanities: Research, Studies and Use". Now, beyond the fact that I find the following advice from the syllabus to be abhorrent: Click on the link to read the Wikipedia definition of the Humanities. A note about Wikipedia: you should never use Wikipedia or any other general encyclopedia as a quotable source for anything you write for a college class, especially at the graduate level. For your own research you will want to use the scholarly peer-reviewed journals available in the Online Library. However, you may find Wikipedia useful to guide you to some important published works, if you scroll down to the bottom of the Wikipedia. Yes, she put in a caveat not to use it as a source, but frankly, I've found suspect source material in Wiki bibliographies. At least my other course stated flatly to avoid Wiki. But here is my real issue. The following is the first part of her introductory letter to all of us: Written Assignment: Your first assignment is to write an essay of introduction to your professor in which you address the following topics: • An introduction to you and your Bachelor’s degree. • Why you are pursuing an MA in Humanities • How this degree “fits†into your future professional plans • Special interests you currently have in the humanities • Other courses in this program that you like to enroll in and why • Personal goals for this course, besides passing it • Finally, include a paragraph or two that discusses the results of your reading test at the First Level of Reading, assigned above. Uh... Is the reading test to point out that she should have used the conditional tense in bullet point five when saying "Other courses in this program that you would like to enroll in and why" ? Or perhaps does she want us to dig out our "How to Read a Book" and punt? ****** On a sad note, the other course, a Historiography course, utilizes a web resource that I've made my 15 yo use. :confused: I don't know whether to bang my head against a wall or quit while I still have the option. a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea Time Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 You have my sympathy. This is why I doubt I will ever go to grad school. It would drive me CRAZY! Listening to my dd's experiences as an undergrad drives me kind of crazy. But... I would LOVE to hear how things go, you know, live vicariously through you! And I wish you a lot of luck! :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 You have my sympathy. This is why I doubt I will ever go to grad school. It would drive me CRAZY! Listening to my dd's experiences as an undergrad drives me kind of crazy. But... I would LOVE to hear how things go, you know, live vicariously through you! And I wish you a lot of luck! :lurk5: I had a heart to heart talk with my mom and decided that if the syllabi was causing that much consternation (and it is a required class with only one prof) that I needed to take a hard look at why I chose the program in the first place. Um... yeah - what was my reasoning again? Drop. Drop. Drop. I need to do a mental "what color is my parachute" over the next few weeks while I'm waiting for my seizure meds to stabilize (oh yeah, hanging on a cliff isn't helping, either!), and see if I can come to any conclusions before my grant runs out. a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catalinakel Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I feel for ya. And, in my opinion, unless you have a very compelling reason to get a Master's, skip it. Academia requires much that can drive one to drinking.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I had a heart to heart talk with my mom and decided that if the syllabi was causing that much consternation (and it is a required class with only one prof) that I needed to take a hard look at why I chose the program in the first place. a :iagree: When I went back to grad school I started by taking one course in the dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea Time Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I had a heart to heart talk with my mom and decided that if the syllabi was causing that much consternation (and it is a required class with only one prof) that I needed to take a hard look at why I chose the program in the first place. Yes, probably a good thing to meditate about! I really think I would have to have a very, very clear goal in mind. I could only stand jumping through the hoops if I could repeatedly tell myself it was just to serve my specific end goal. If my plan did not require the degree, then I would not get it. Well, unless maybe the entire goal was to be a thorn in the side of some grad school. That might be fun, but probably not economically sound! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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