Wow. This semester has been a hoot! It started rough and has only gotten more interesting as the time goes on. We are in Week 6, when is Spring Break again????
Well I have 4 online classes that all have term papers. {Wish I had known this when I was registering} Of all the things I do not do well, writing is the top of the list. Writing "professional style" is bad enough, coupled with the grammatical issues, then add the citation requirements of APA, which I have yet to find a source that covers all the media and that has an example that is easy to follow, well I am still trying to redirect my negative thoughts on this, for now we will just say "and this too shall pass" (and hopefully I will too, the papers that is).
My most challenging class is the Developmental Psychology... (I know it is "supposed" to be easier than abnormal, but.. IT IS NOT!!! also the quizzes are made up by the publisher of the textbook. {Isn't that a conflict of interest??? if not it should be! If we fail this semester we have to retake it next semester and of course there is a NEW textbook next semester by the same publisher!!! Does anyone else see an ethical dilemma?????} HA HA!!! Grade has slipped to a C, and I am so not happy I am not even going to try to pretend to be positive on this one, moving on....
Sociology is a laughable thing from start to finish. I still have no clue what the point, how this class is "organized" {oh.. using that word lately just makes me laugh...} We have articles to read each week and 5! Lecture questions to post a "thread" (like a note, discussing them.- the syllabus said the posts should be about 300 words but there is no minimum. On the discussion board description it just says, "no minimum", guess how many people posted notes about 300 words. YEP! you guessed it. I emailed the instructed for clarification and no response. I continued to post the first two weeks and now have cut back, still getting full credit above the average so we will just keep hoping this trend continues. Also each week we have a discussion question that has to be responded to and it does have to be 1,600 words. Sunday, it took me 2 hours to write this silly thing. I was so tempted to do like Charles would do on his writing assignments. "I do not know what else you want to know". "If you want more information, write me a note about what you want to know". I wrote as much as I could think of. Can I go outside now? I might be able to think of more stuff later. Ummmm. I do not know what else to put here. I have to have one more sentence to make this a paragraph and then I have filled this page that is what you said to do. But, I resisted and figured out something.
The topics have been all over the place and the discussion board is really just everyone posting their assignment and then posting a bunch of comments. "I agree with you", "Society is wacked" {really! Wacked, you are an adult, in a higher education forum and you put wacked in your only sentence??} In most classes you have to write and give sources in (APA style, :YUCK!) but in here they barely post readable threads and trying to follow the logic is well, funny. Our future is beginning to look very bleak.
The last two classes are "core" classes for my major, Counseling and Advocacy. Love the topics and the instructor is one I had last semester and really enjoy her. Some of my classmates not so much. Many people are in school for different reasons and some peoples attitudes and people skills are very different. I am amazed at the "fundamental" educational differences and the number of people that do not write adequately and appropriate for their age and that seem okay with it. It drives me crazy that I cannot write well. I work and work in Word to get all the stupid green and red lines to go away and make sure my writing level is at least an 11th grade level. I use a grammar program to try to improve things when I have time. But at least the writing is somewhat sensible and "most" of the words are right. {HA HA}.
Communication is the biggest part of what we will be doing with our education. If we cannot communicate effectively how are we going to use the knowledge we have stored up, understanding comes by processing the information. To counsel and Advocate you have to be able to communicate with others and for them to be able to understand you.
Another interesting thing is the vast amount of views, beliefs and opinions. Some well thought out (not logically proven or able to be debated, but to the person this is what they believe to be true). Worldviews are amazing, even within the "believers camps" the things people state and use to govern their lives are so amazing. The funniest thing is when you ask them question about the belief or view to try to get a better understanding on what they are saying and they get all disjointed and can't explain it and refuse to clarify or define some of the terms they use to make sure you understand what they mean. Several people talk in broad encompassing terms like "I am a believer" {a believer of what???} of God {which God, can you describe or explain what you believe?} I believe in God the creator {you believe in him, do you have a relationship with Him?} then they start getting testy and repeating themselves, I believe in God...
Well as counselors our beliefs are not the biggest concern, our focus is on what the client thinks, feels and believes. Many issues are quite hard to discuss without bringing religion, culture, personal responsibility into the discussion. A persons views have a big impact on their behavior (or depending on the theories you believe in they do) and depending on which therapeutic model you plan on using you need to explore these views with the client. Having a common understanding and usage of terms is crucial to really assessing what the client feels and thinks and therefore does. Bad behaviors usually stem from a confict in thinking or from bad or "stinking thinking" as the AA model calls it. When the truth is distorted or reduced in anyway it become very cloudy and things start getting out of order fast, this is usually when the bad choices and behaviors usually emerge. And then things quickly progress into a pattern and develop into habits, which are ingrained into our minds and become cycles of thinking and behavior that we can pass onto our children.
One of the tracable problems that have resulted in our culture and societies downward value and ethics spiral is the transition away from God, the creator and Jesus Christ his son who was sent here to redeem mankind from the sin and the rise of humanistic and personal power and rights. There are so many rights and laws that nothing makes since anymore because every step you take you violate someones rights, but yet you have a right to walk around so it becomes a free for all and everyone is out for themselves. This is not how we were designed to be, it is not about furthering ourselves, we were created to have a relationship with God, like Adam and Eve did before the fall. And when our "fleshy" human desires conflict with our designed desire to know God and to follow Him we begin to have a "break down" Spiritually, which effects our Mental/psychological and our physical body. If we want to problem solve we need to be able to identify the issue, and inorder to do that we have to have a set and fixed standard and definition to be able to assess the problem.
There are not spectrums and degrees in God's measurement system there is right and wrong, good and bad, sin and righteousness. When things are truthful and assessed in light of these truthes everything is clear and simple, black and white. But, as humans we love to dance in the gray areas. We want to merge and compromise and vaguely define things so that it is less harsh and less condemning. Everything has to be considered case by case and the judgments are not lasting what was yesterday may not be the same today. It is very scary and sad to see the conditioning of becoming completely tolerant of everything and having to encourage everyones individual views and beliefs regardless of their delusional and deceptive elements which will ultimately harm the person, but yet we cannot judge, advise or impose values or beliefs on someone.
In most of our social issues, it is well documented and frequently stated that education is the first step in empowering and making changes. Awareness is one of the top goals of counseling and advocacy. How can you be aware of something if we do not have an identifiable standard and definition of things? Seems like we are doing more unlearning and being conditioned than we are learning solid truths. We are learning to blur the line between right and wrong so that more people will not feel the twinge of regret or remorse for poor behavior and choices. If you do not accept responsibility for your actions you do not usually accept the power to make changes either and that is more limiting than obeying some rules and submitting to authority.
The Truth will set us Free! Christ said, "I am the Truth and the Life" wished they taught this in my classes it would change alot and make us more equip to help those that come to us for answers and in need of guidance and direction. We could "refer" them to Jesus, that would be what is best for the client. Providing them information should not be restricted and legislated against. The client could still choose to not utilize God, but at least they were given all their options and were provided the best therapy if only they would accept. I can understand not being able to "witness" to a nonbeliever, but when someone declares they are a believer but is not following the teachings of the bible, that could very much be part of their conflict. Assessing their spiritual symptoms and referring them to a clergy person would allow them to explore those deceptive or incorrect spiritual thoughts or behaviors that need to be repented of and reconnecting with God could be exact what the Doctor ordered.
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