My Education Interferes With My Education

Meeting wtih the potential thesis director was okay. Basically, he told me that I am not ready to begin the project until I get a much more refined topic in mind (which of course I was expecting and is absolutely true). He also said that I have to be careful about writing it about a particular firm like I was planning on, because then my objectivity can be compromised or questioned. That was something I hadn't thought about.

It's a really great exercise in humiilty to sit in front of someone with advanced degrees in a field you aspire to and have them tell you, as gently as they can, that you have no idea what you're doing. It's totally necessary, but man, it freaking sucks. His general advice was that I'm not ready to start this just yet.

So basically I'm right back at square one, with no idea exactly what I want to research and t-minus 1 week to get this thesis prospectus written, find a director, and find 2 readers.

This is so frustrating. I have to get done with school by this spring, and that means the thesis needs to start now. I don't have a lot of time to sort out what I want to do, and I'm beginning to feel the pressure. You would think that colleges, in this increasingly interconnected and "global" world they keep lecturing us about in class, would ENCOURAGE and REWARD us for studying abroad. But no. You get back from abroad, and in addition to the culture shock, you get to enjoy the experience of your university ramming its Graduation Requirements Boot as far up your tuckus as possible.

I'm not angry with the prospective director. He's great, and he gave me exactly the advice and direction that I needed to hear. I'm angry with the BHC and with ASU in general. They've structured the graduation requirements and pre-requisites in such a way that it makes it difficult - if not impossible - to graduate on time and still do study abroad and everything ELSE you wanted to do.

My education interferes with my education.