Posted by Jost on August 19, 2006, at 17:05:15
In reply to should I drop this class?, posted by wishingstar on August 18, 2006, at 21:02:30
Wishingstar,
You seem to have three issues about the SEM class, two practical and one emotional.
The practial ones are:
1. will it negatively affect your future application to another program
2. will the other class you take fit into your degree requirements/program, or have requirements that are hard in your circumstances
The emotional issue is : how you feel about letting yourself drop it, or what it means if you do.
I can't answer the first two, because I don't know enough about what Psych program admissions, or how the other course fits in with your situation. Maybe if you write more about that, someone could answer, or I could say something more.
About the emotional side:
Can you accept not doing the SEM class, and not start to doubt the legitimacy of your work? ie because you didn't do the hard class, will you think your degree isn't "real" and your standing isn't earned?
---That can be a long term, diffuse, background sense of yourself, which could undermine your confidence, even if you believe, at another level, that the course wasn't worth doing --or it can fade into such insignificance given the other things you do, that it has no long-term consequences of weightOn another level:
In retrospect, what matters to me is having done work (in the past) that was worthwhile. For example, I also have a fascination with hard things for the sake of their hardness. My sense of inadequacy could be momentarily fended off by doing something super-hard.
So I would write a paper on a hard topic, rather than a topic that really interested me. Sometimes, it was fun, and I look back that feel good about going onto more barren ground and finding something fruitful. But there had to be a level of vital challenge there.
Other times, particularly as the difficulty grew and my sympathetic identification deceased, I spent energy climbing up a steep hill, and being exhausted, and frustrated, and wishing I'd taken the lower path through the trees and into the valley, where it was beautiful and refreshing.
As of yesterday, based on what you're writing, on the purely emotional side, I'd say you might have the latter experience with SEM. But maybe you were in a particularly negative mood. Are there days when SEM feels a little exciting, even if hard? Unless it would be enlivening, I'd say skip SEM-- on the emotional level.
There needs to be enough edge of pure engagement to make it meaningful. If that's missing, you'll more likely be drained, not proud of yourself.
--Unless you feel that your self-respect as a professional will really suffer-- which is the other element, the diffuse one.
You probably have to think about each and then, if the answers aren't leading to the same conclusion, try to balance them, and see which feels more significant.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:677944
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/studs/20060709/msgs/678145.html