Mid-Terms

Do the words "mid-term exams" bring terror into your soul? They do to mine. Every school term there is this frenetic burst of activity required of me - no surfing, no leisurely chats with curious students, no time for any serious research, no time for anything fun - this is the time of MID-TERMS.

If you thought that mid-terms brought terror into your life when you were a student, just think about the preparation time and grading time required from the faculty. And this mid-term season I have compounded the problem exponentially.

This year I tried to upgrade my junior-level finance class. I chose a new text and an entirely new course outline. I think that it will be a better course than the last, but oh, what a huge price I am paying. I think that there is a sort of Alzheimer's like affliction that blesses us as academicians. We so easily forget the enormous work associated with bringing forth a new class and even with making changes to an existing class. We somehow let vague lofty ideals about improving the student's education experience grab hold of us - and then we suffer for months. There are new homework assignments to make, new quizzes to create, new grading systems to implement, new learning activities, new exams (Remember? I started this post by moaning about mid-terms). Remind me of this the next time some idealistic thought invades my mind. Remind me of this suffering...