Never ever take an arts based course. You'll kill yourself trying to get it, and you'll never get it. You'll never do it. You can't. Ugh, I've just submitted some work in I know is good, but I wanted it to be great. I'll get a 2:1 but I wanted a 1st so badly I've spent over a week on this work. Three more left for next Wednesday deadline. I'll die doing it, so this is a farewell broiled in self pity. All the best.
It's impossible to get 100% in a non-scientific course. Stuff like math or bilogy has a right and wrong answer to give, but with stuff like art or writing Pretty much everybody subscribes to the notion that "nobody's perfect" so getting a perfect mark is not possible
True, that's how I justify it to my science and engineering friends, at least. It's even more annoying then, that I put in all this work and i'll probably be in the same grade bracket I'm always in, just a few marks away from the next. Still, hell to self-pity, next essay begins soon.
The angle I've seen is that science and art replicate their job opportunities. It's hard to get anywhere in a science, but if you're good, you're getting a high mark. It's easy to get a decent mark in an art, but INCREDIBLY hard to get a high mark
I think one of the hardest parts about getting 100% in art is if you get an art teacher who is extremely either judgmental or picky, so even if you're not the best artist, or you're taking a beginners course, they'll still freak because of the slightest things. Like for my final drawing in my art class last fall, I had stuff under my lamp and on a table next to my wall, and my teacher was asking why the shadows weren't darker or whatever because of the light where it was and all I could say was "I was just drawing what I saw". And she kept going on about that too, how you should "draw what you see instead of what you know". I got a B in that class, but it does get annoying when the teacher gets on your case even though you just followed what they said
I'm in an art appreciation class right now and could not be less happy with it. For the first half of the course I was literally acing everything and then the professor stopped structuring the course and now we just do whatever we haven't done yet and my scores have dropped significantly. I don't need rigid structure but I need some sense of direction. I couldn't even tell you what we do from day to day.
Ugh yes, I hate that with my current college courses. The teach tries to act like he's loose about structure, but he clearly has REALLY specific ideas for what he wants... he just never tells you what he wants under the guise of 'creative freedom' and then gets made and takes off marks when you don't do the things he never said to do
That's really a shame :c If you're interested in other fine arts, I'd really recommend taking a music course! Not the sort where you have to make music necessarily, but the sort where you learn about it. I've taken one about American music and a music appreciation course (still taking it currently), and I've gotten good grades in them and really enjoyed myself. The only caveat is that there is a lot of memorization to do, and it can be the sort of the "remember this for the exam and then forget" category of memorization unless you're really passionate about what you're learning. You could also try a film class; I took one last semester and while it wasn't my favorite class, we did get to watch a lot of interesting films I'd never seen or heard of before. Film classes can depend a lot on the instructor and what kind of film s/he is interested in (or I guess more accurately, whether they are interested in the same sort of film as you), but even if your tastes are wildly different you're at least guaranteed an interesting new perspective. I can't know if the professors in these other disciplines would be better than this art one at your uni, I mean... It's possible I've just gotten really lucky, lol. But speaking from experience, I've rather enjoyed my classes concerning the arts and maybe you'd like stuff in the same vein. Good luck, either way.
I got top grades on every paper and exam in my poetry class v: IT IS POSSIBLE Y'ALL /brag I took an Art Appreciation course to satisfy my arts requirement, the prof liked me because I was the only one who spoke up in class. It is also helps to be a feminist who quite often can't keep her mouth shut when people spew misogynistic bullshit. I made a few enemies in that class. But I also got an A.
Eh, see, that's my issue with something like art. There's no objectivity. A person can get a good mark if the teacher likes them, and a bad one if the teacher doesn't. I had a very strongly feminist teach last year, and everybody who made projects about feminism, regardless of quality, scored around 20% higher than everybody else. And I mean, there's a valuable life lesson here, since getting people to like you is a vital skill in life, but it's frustrating nonetheless, and it's not like you can blame the teacher or student for having specific tastes
Well, certainly art is pretty subjective. I mean, it's still quite mind boggling to me that after being taught that art is one thing, it's an entirely different matter in another class or setting. Alas, we each hold our own truths for what we believe is art. But I guess that's why it's one of the least financially (and morally in some respects) supported jobs/programs in the world. Especially realizing and considering what great potential it can have to change, shape, or form opinions and perspectives on an individual or society, for both good and bad reasons. It's just some people are meant to be the creators while the rest have the task to either take it in or reject it as a whole.
That's one of the positives about college, you to some extent have the freedom to pick your professors and see who you jive with. It's not just a grades consideration for me, my poetry professor is probably one of the toughest English profs at my college. He is however incredibly well-read (both in poetry and literature) and is pretty open to hearing others' interpretations of the poems which is what I value a lot in an English professor (though he very much disliked biographical critiques & I understand why in the context of the class). I liked that he challenged me to some extent though -- as I said I did well on the graded assignments but many of his selections were extremely complex. We had to read The Wasteland, for example. I have dropped a class because I did not feel the professor was very good and I would do it again; I understand that's a bit of a luxury but to me college isn't just about getting through and getting done, it's a learning experience and I intend to get the most possible out of it. Of course sometimes there's no other professor available or at least not at a convenient time so sometimes you do just have to buckle down and put up with a bad professor. There are people out there who just should not be in education or academia. In those situations you've just got to make the most out of it. This is why I like English, you can say whatever you'd like as long as you argue it well (usually back it up with details from the text and coherent analysis). A quality English professor will respect that; I've certainly had ones who haven't but, as someone who wants to be an English teacher, it's of fundamental importance to me.
English teachers are honestly the best ones I've had so far in college. In particular the one I had last semester was easily one of the best I ever had. She was fun, quirky, smart, and willing to hear different opinions. She was also humble enough to apologize when she shot down someone's point, only to realize they might be right. Honestly, College feels like an extreme version of highschool, where the good teachers are REALLY good, and the bad ones are truly awful. I haven't really had any middle ground teachers
I ceased having art related classes when I was, idk, 16, but I liked them. I kept scoring 18/20 minimum in music (not surprising considering I was actually learning music outside of school) and 14/20 minimum in drawing (never learned that outside of school but I drew a lot on my own, I was a comics junkie just like my father). I even drew stuff when I wasn' t asked to. My lil' sis confessed to me she "stole" all of my old drawings stash to submit them as her own work (to the same teacher, who never noticed :3) Heh, not sure how it is in other countries, but I' m pretty sure I aced my biology finals and I still got 18/20. Never heard of anyone getting more than that.
By the sounds of it, the course must have a very loose criteria and assessment bracket wise if it can be altered by the teacher's preference. My lecturers can't base a mark on the student's abilities in class or from mutual agreement with personal beliefs. Not saying they all do that, a few are generous especially the feminist teachers, who are fine but my god one track minded when it comes every text. It's all sex and repression in texts through the ages, or for my American Lit teacher homosocial or sexual men. But being reassessed by other lecturers to make sure you're not a biased grader usually curbs that. I don't feel comfortable picking classes to get an easy grade from it, admittedly. I'll pick what i'm interested in, whether the teacher is a hard arse on not, though thankfully most are good. None of them are bad actually, but just they don't click all the time. Still, I would've liked it if rapport helped my grades, otherwise I would have better marks. The fact everyone in my classes thinks i'm the smart one makes me worry about how bad other's grades must be.
The class had few actual assignments as it wasn't a like... Make art class as much as a look at art class. As such class participation was a major part of my grade, so in that case speaking in class pretty much secured the A. my prof didn't always agree on my points (I think, he would mostly play devil's advocate) but he respected my reasonings and critiques and that I actually made an effort to participate. I don't see anything wrong with that.
