A degree of resolution, and I saw a squirrel

I mentioned earlier that issues were being addressed.  Well today they came to a head (of sorts).

Today, towards the end of my last class, both the Directory of Students and the school Dean came into class to address one of the letters they got from the students.

I first had a moment of panic…thinking they were going to talk to the whole class about my one single letter.  Thankfully it was one that was written before that many students had signed.

In essence the letter (the larger one…I signed it as well) dealt with a variety of subjects.  Some, in my opinion, were rather minor…long lines for meals, lack of housing, attitude of internship students (some students do their internships here)…but most importantly…books and Human Relations.

To be honest a lot of smoke was blown up our butts.  We were told that class size has only increased by small amounts (but if you do the math, class size increased by 20% over last year…and I was SPECIFICALLY told by the school rep when I first was applying…that class size was roughly 15-17 students.  We are 30.)  They went on about housing…having to put students off campus…lots of other things.  I could honestly go on quite a while about the things that were fired back and forth…it was mildly heated but conversational.

But since this blog is written by me, about me and my life, and hell…because it’s fun to write about me…I’m going to do just that.

Towards the end of the meeting I raised my hand and said something along these lines…

My major issue here is the book situation.  And frankly I’m pretty disappointed.  It is obvious the school knew there was an issue right off the bat, when students started arriving.  However every time I went to the Library to try to get my books…I was told to come back later.  Always come back later…they aren’t here…soon.  We’ve gotten many memos and notes and information about things happening…events, activities, class changes, etc.  Why didn’t the school simply tell us that there was an issue with the books, that they aren’t sure when it would be taken care of and that they are working on it?  If the school had done that…this situation probably could have been avoided.  There would have been no need for you to come to class today to address this.  And beyond that, what is the school doing specifically, right now, in order to get us our books?

The answer was rather non-committal…they said they are “harassing the publisher daily” and that “we were supposed to get photocopies of the chapters on a weekly basis…” and they don’t know why that hasn’t happened.  And in regards to the lack of informing the students BEFORE or DURING the situation instead of now after we became…annoyed…they had no real response.

I was proud of my comment.

And after the meeting…I had students, students that I feel are generally annoying in class, students that usually don’t talk to me, students that aren’t what I’d call “good”…several of them came up to me and said “good job, you said the right thing, it’s great that you spoke, you said something very important.”

And that itself is a reward.  

I feel much better about this situation now.  Up until this point it truly felt that the school was just ignoring the problem until it was solved.  I’m sad that it had to come to this point when it could have been dealt with much earlier.

Ah…life.  What a strange and wonderful thing it is.

PS:  I saw a squirrel today…it was small, black, and had a white chest.  It was really cool and acted like a silly squirrel.

PSS:  Another student is going to cut my hair tonight.  Personally…I’m nervous.