The Worst Class Ever.

I'm a graduate student. I'm not sure if I had mentioned that before. But yes, working full time, growing a person, and taking two classes a semester. I must be nuts.

For the most part, graduate school has been a good experience. I have enjoyed my classes, met a few great people, and have learned a lot. Enter one of my two classes this semester.

EPIC. SUCK.

Besides having absolutely no relevance to anything at all, this is the worst class I have ever taken in any of my many years of schooling. The professor is completely self-righteous and egotistical. He spends all class (two hours once a week) rattling off his accomplishments in the field (a field that doesn't exactly exist, I'll add). We are not being tested on any of the "lecture" material, and nothing he says can add any substance to the 20-page paper we have to write by December 2nd.

(And here's where I get to the meat of my frustration):
He does, however, reserve an entire 10% of our grade for "class participation." I'm not sure exactly what he means by this. He doesn't ask questions and there's no chance for anyone to pipe up during lecture anyway. Does class participation mean showing up? Then I get a solid A.

He did specifically invite us to comment during last night's class. So, when Professor Fullofhimself said something blatantly wrong last night, I poked my little hand into the air. He saw it, I know he did. He made eye contact with me! A full five minutes later (I'm a clock watcher), he finally called on me. I said a whole 5 words of my thought - and he completely interrupted me! Blatantly cut me off mid-sentence and started explaining why I was wrong.

Why ask for opinions if you're not going to listen to them?

I was so angry, that I completely shut off for the remainder of class. And by the time I got home (at 10pm), I burst into tears. AND realized that I pay $3,000 for a class that has absolutely no value. I couldn't sleep last night. And I'm still seething this morning.

And here's the thing of it. I'm not a confrontational person, but I actually DO want to confront this professor about his behavior. But I'm so afraid of hurting my grade (because that's the kind of jack ass he is), that I don't feel that I can say anything to him at all. So I'm going to spend my morning drafting a calm but heartfelt email to send to the head of the department.

No one should ever feel this way about a class or professor, no matter how much they are paying in tuition.