university at home

I am almost done my undergraduates degree.

It's scary.

I'm stressed.

I only need to schedule two more classes (I've scheduled three already) and I don't know which ones to take.

BUT

I feel like I have learned more this semester than any other semester.

WHY?

I only have electives left. I can choose to take whatever classes I want! This being said, this last semester I chose classes that I was actually interested in. Here they are:

Sensation and Perception

• I learned a lot of cool things about vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Cool class. Loved it

Sex and Gender

• Don't worry, this refers to biological sex not ... the other... one...Anyways. We basically looked at women and men and gender roles in a lot of different societies.

The History of English

• I loved this class! It's so cool to learn why we spell light l-i-g-h-t and why we are not supposed to split our infinitives or dangle our participles.

Abnormal Psychology

• This class was awesome because we learned about a lot of things that happen to people's minds...like anorexia, schizophrenia, depression, etc. 

Language and Power

• This class was interesting because we talked about what makes languages "standard" or stigmatized. 

I have hypothetically spent a lot of money on my education. I say this because I haven't actually spent anything on it....yet. That's what student loans are for. A blessing immediately and a curse in the long run. However, with all this money going to perhaps profs or the "other" category (like to painting stairwells blue when no one really cares if the stairwells are blue or cement colored and it's just a waste of my hypothetical money), there are two life lessons that I learned at home for free that I spent $800 learning in class.

The first life lesson came from my mother:

• Men are just as smart and capable as women.

Now wait a second. MEN are just as smart and capable as WOMEN??? Shouldn't it be the other way around? You couldn't possibly mean that you are comparing MEN to WOMEN. You should be comparing WOMEN to MEN! WOMEN are just as smart and as capable as MEN! Nay my friends. I meant what I said, and I said what I learned. You see, if it wasn't for my mother I would have grown up thinking I was bad at math, or believing I was not able to hook up a DVD player to a TV, or being convinced that I shouldn't even try to lift heaving things because that's what men are for. Instead, my mother stayed up late with me working out math problems with me, telling me I am smart and a hard worker, teaching me that I can figure things out on my own, and showing me through example that I am perfectly capable of lifting heaving object and being "tough". Because of her (and the encouragement of my dad as well) I was able to graduate high school with distinction. I was able to move out and live on my own (with roommates). I was able to buy my own DVD player (from the thrift store) and hook it up to my free TV without the help of a man (because you know, men are "naturally" *rolls eyes* good at electrical things). Not only this, I was able to move my TV stand AND my TV into my room without the help of a "strong" man. 

So I spent $400 learning that I could do all these things in my Sex and Gender class. Unfortunately women have been condemned and stereotyped in most societies as unclean, incapable, or deserving of misfortune or deserving of being beaten. In our society, we have been led to believe that women should be compared to men, not the other way around. We see it in our language, in our work place, and even in children's movies. This has been an epidemic throughout the world since the dawn of man. Thankfully people are working to change these stereotypes. People like my mom, who is strong, smart, capable, and a good teacher. You may think I sound like some sort of Feminist, like this is a bad thing. This term has gone through the process of pejoration (the change in meaning of a word to a more negative meaning). I looked up what a "feminist" is on dictionary.com and it says that a feminist is a person who advocates equal rights for women. If we go by this definition, then I guess I am a feminist. No, I don't think women are any better than men. I believe we are equal. I wrote my life lesson in that order because it's only fair. Women have been compared to men too many times to even try to count. Really, we shouldn't be comparing anyone because we are equal, but I just wanted to start a good rant. Men are equal to women. 

Thanks for teaching this to me mom. I love you. 

The second life lesson came from my father. 

• Whether you can or you can't, you're right.

This was a famous quote in my house growing up, well, at least it was to me because it made such a huge impact on my life. If I think I can do something, I'm right. If I don't think I can do something, I'm right. This probably has to be followed within the laws of physics though. Even if I thought I could breathe underwater without any help from technology or random air bubbles, I would probably be wrong. If I thought I could jump off a skyscraper and survive the fall, I would most likely be wrong. Follow the laws of physics and you should be fine. Anywho, I grew up thinking I could do well in my classes. I was right. I grew up thinking I could go to university right after high school. I was right. I grew up thinking I would recover from my sicknesses. And was I right? Yes. 

This leads me to what I learned in my Abnormal Psychology class. Did you know that if you think you can fight depression without medication, you're most likely right? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been supported in multiple studies to be sometimes even more effective than medication when it comes to anxiety disorders and depression. CBT basically teaches you how to think more positively and more critically. My prof even said something very similar to my dad in regards to fighting depression. He said, "whatever you say, you're probably right." He had been talking about how some people said that they COULD NOT handle their depression without medication. Others said they CAN handle their depression without medication and seek help from CBT. I spent $400 learning this in class when I learned this at home from my dad. 

Thanks for teaching this to me dad. I love you. 

Maybe my parents should offer university courses in these two areas. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I'm not much of an essay writer. In fact, I should be studying right now. I just wanted to get that out there that I'm very thankful for what my parents have taught me. Sorry for the lack of pictures.