To Round Out the Week

So, with the last day of the week, so comes my last class description, leaving us with a basic understanding from here on out. However, it also just so happens that today was not quite my last day of classes....seeing as Putney has the delightful practice of Saturday morning classes. Other momentous news of the day was that I subbed in for a friend on her dinner crew job (on my day off from AM Barn I might add), and had an experience with that that made me thankful that I shovel cow manure every morning and wake up at 5:25 to boot. Perhaps the reason for their work program is in reality a deterrent for not going to college and getting a degree? If it is, it is working well. Other than that, I learned how to throw on a pottery wheel on the sly from a student rather than the teacher, I wove about a foot of my scarf (which I am terribly excited about, so much fun), and we started reading Waiting for Godot in Existentialism, which may or may not be the most bizarre play I have ever encountered. I get to go back to AM Barn tomorrow morning, and then have the pleasure of it on Sunday, which would otherwise be the only day I might be able to sleep in on.

Anyways, my last activity that I will be devoting a post to is American Studies, which is sort of like an United States History class and English class smashed together according to its description. I have yet to see much evidence of the English portion, but so far the history side has been focusing on the structure of the government, which is particularly interesting with the electoral college and the upcoming elections. Basically everyone here is extraordinarily liberal, and the teacher for this class is very adamant about the fact that the electoral college turns the election into something that is not, in fact, a free election, but rather a controlled one. This ties in to the topics of Federalists verses Anti-Federalists that we are discussing in class, which we also had a debate about in class today. Even though I don't actually go here, I was the only one on our team who had written up a bit of a statement for the Anti-Federalists side, and so we were not terribly well prepared, and neither side was particularly eloquent or organized in their thoughts and ideas.

This description of our rather lack-luster class brings me to an interesting point on Putney that I have observed over the past week, which is how they differ with Maumee Valley on the basis of how much importance they place on academics. Many of the students transfer to Putney after discovering that their high school wasn't really where they wanted to be after the first or second year, and so everyone is extraordinarily creative and unique, and the environment they form in that way is amazing. However, very few students focus on academics with any great diligence, and there is a very lax attitude towards homework and work in general. Perhaps this is only my observation because I have yet to see any of the assignments graded and handed back, nor any tests or quizzes. Nonetheless, that still leaves the fact that the shortest period of time in between the three classes that are held each day is an hour, and two of the three classes are themselves an hour long with one being an hour and a half. This makes for a very relaxed environment, and for the right people it certainly works; however, though I adore Putney so far, I'm not sure that I could bear the academic environment for very long.