This Computer Information Technology degree has been interesting. Of course, the coursework has been interesting, but it’s also been fascinating (dumbfounding at times) to watch the functioning of such a large institution as TCU is.
When I first transferred into this B.S. degree from my Th.M. program in 2006, there was some question about my transfer credits. Almost everything counted and I ended up with about 108 credited hours toward my new program. There were a few general ed courses I had to take because my first program did not require as many courses in the particular area.
I had to take a social science course. Miguel Leatham, a professor of anthropology, had given a talk to one of my graduate classes on ritual, so when I saw that his Anthropology of Religion was on offer, I thought it would be a great class for my social science credit. But, according to the university powers, Anthropology of Religion is not a social science, just a religious studies course. I’ll repeat that: Anthropology of Religion is not a social science course. I ended up taking Health, Illness, and Medicine that semester.
But today, I was registering for Software Engineering for the fall, and I notice that it is listed as being a writing emphasis class. If Anthropology of Religion is not social science, then there’s no way in hell that Software Engineering is a writing emphasis course. Sure, we’re going to do a fair amount of writing (design documents, user manuals, etc.) but that’s not what writing emphasis is for—it’s to get people comfortable and proficient at communicating in written form, preferably in English, so they don’t look like idiots when they venture out into the real world. (I’ll gloss over the fact that most of the real world wouldn’t know proper usage or sentence construction either bit them in the ass.)
This is all a matter of common sense versus bureaucracy. When I petitioned for Anthropology of Religion as a social science credit, some rule monkey looked at the UCR listing and said, “No, because the rules say…” But no one had the commons sense to know that Software Engineering is not a writing emphasis course.
If you’re reading this, please learn to use whatever God was gracious enough to stick between your ears. Don’t be a bureaucratic rule monkey.
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