Ding dong, the class is dead!

Done and DONE!

This was not one of the good ones. I took peculiar pleasure in writing up the meanest factual criticisms I could come up with, and they were legion. I filled out the space allotted on the physical evaluations, but went to town in the unlimited online space provided. It wasn't just that they made us drive 4 hours in a single day to present in person when the expensive and perfectly serviceable long-distance video equipment would have more than sufficed. It wasn't because of the wildly arbitrary grading scheme, or the nonsensical emphasis on anywhere except America. It wasn't because the only natural resources of interest, but of course, are the renewable kind, and it wasn't because the graded assignments were essentially tests of how well we could work Google scholar (but seriously, what kind of class specifically asks you NOT to cite the reading? What kind of work incentive structure is that??!!).

It was because I didn't learn anything.

Sure I gleaned a few new facts, mostly from my friends and colleagues. I was confronted anew by the remarkable thoroughness of the CIA factbook. I even picked up a few things while researching my 2nd-choice paper topic.

But I wasn't introduced to any new ideas.

Population growth and consumption is bad, sustainability and waste reduction is good, blah blah blah ad infinitum. Not really cutting-edge concepts, but nothing to be argued with in the field of sustainability science. But how were we to reach this exalted state?

We should.

We must.

We will.

Education is the answer.

Oh come on, blow me! These are answers for grade school children. Originally, I'd credited them with high school-level instruction, but upon further consideration, I think that critical thinkers in high school would laugh in the face of this mantra-based, detail-lacking, hokum. This is the Tinkerbell approach - wish as hard as you can and clap your hands, and all will be well with the world. The how, the why, the where, the what, the order of priorities...nothing. I went through most of the class reeking of are you kidding me? bad attitude, and they never gave me reason to change.

So, I'm glad that it's all over for now. I'm sad that it was such a flaming disappointment. I hope the next one will stretch my mind, even a little.

Otherwise, I'm just the stupid girl doing homework for fun, which isn't.