4th December of 2010
Dear Cassi,
A subject I haven't brought up much that has been troubling me is the internship requirement for my degree. I didn't want to bring it up because I figured that you had enough to worry about without hearing my problems, but now it's been resolved so I can tell it like it fell. The thing about schools in the state of California is that they get paid for having you take classes not for teaching you or giving you a degree. They'll catch you with any snag that can to get you back in that class room and get that state paycheck.
First I was told that my work could count as my internship, but I was afraid that my work would give me problems. I pressed the issue a bit too hard, and the teacher stopped returning my emails. I asked the department chair and he gave me a 'don't worry about it.' When people tell me not to worry I often find that it's time to get worrying. I don't trust people much. Trust has never been a good idea for me as you have known. Every time I trust people I get burned.
I dropped the class to take it the next semester only to find that by the time I registered it was too late. Then it came up that there was a session of the class over the winter intersession. More than eight-hundred dollars for this shit, but I had no choice. I registered for intersession, and paid my money.
Then I emailed the teacher to get thing straightened to find that my fears were well founded. They wouldn't take my job as an internship, and no one was interested in having an intern for a month. The class only runs for a total of thirty-four days including days off. I was right back where I started only eight-hundred dollars poorer for it. It was a slap in the face to me as a student who had paid them tens of thousands of dollars, it was a slap in the face to tax payers who had paid millions to enrich the economy with college graduates, and it was a slap in the face to all those students who needed this class but couldn't take it because it was full.
The only option I had left was to petition to take another class on the grounds that I had to take care of my brother. It was one of those liability things that when you say you’re taking charge of a man who has tried to take his own life the school doesn't want to be held accountable. The fact that I needed to graduate wasn't good enough for them. I emailed the department chair who told me to email advisement who told me to email them with a full list of my duties to my brother. All this after I dropped the intercession class and got most of my money back.
It was a grueling process but advisement called me twice. The first time they said that it sounded like I just needed to graduate and the second they said that the department chair had given them leave to do what was necessary. I met with Advisement on the second of December after class and spoke to Professor (Skinny Person) Ph.D a thin Japanese woman who I had a class with before. She was a toddy woman who like to bend over and show off her lady bits in class. I kept my opinion of professional conduct to myself. Ticking her off would have made things harder.
In the end I was granted the right to walk in commencement and to take Neural Psychology instead of the internship class. It was something of a victory even if I have no reason to go to commencement. So it worked out. It took something like a month to work out but if finally did. I have to send (Skinny Person) an email once I get my grade so she can notify the right people to send me my diploma, but I'm going to graduate and that’s the important thing.
Stay safe
Richard Leland Neal
Also
updating today!
Random Street Theater a Comic
No comments:
Post a Comment