English 102 at Ashland

Stuff that just isn’t true A lot of fake news circulates in high school concerning college life. Even though you are not exactly newcomers to the college life, these ideas may still be in the back of your head. You need to ignore them. “College attendance doesn’t count” Yes it does, in two ways. In our course (and in many courses) attendance is part of the grade, and unexcused absences count against you. And obviously, if you weren’t here and the teacher said something you need, that hurts too. Some teachers don’t appear to take attendance, but they really can—they just know who is supposed to be in their small classroom. (I’m not that good. I will usually call roll.) You only think that absences don’t count against you because we don’t have an assistant principal phoning your mother. You are an adult now, and you should know how much absences hurt your grade. “Showing up late is how I assert my independence” ...

Here is the problem everyone faces when they enter college. For twelve years or so, you were in school and it all felt the same: you came in, sat there for several hours (maybe moving from one room to another), then you got to eat lunch, then went back to a classroom and sat there for a few more hours before they let you go home. If you messed up, you had to face the assistant principal and your parents. And some school districts were very poorly run—they truly did not care greatly about some things. If you could get through the day without committing a felony, that was a success in their eyes. Now, suddenly, you are in college, and all those rules have changed. First problem: It just doesn’t feel like school. You spend a lot less time sitting there. Fifteen credit hours is a pretty standard load for freshmen, which means that you might be in class only three or four hours per day. It is too easy to feel like the rest of the day is vacatio...

The coming semester is very nailed down now. (You can follow the Course Content link on the left to get the complete details.) Every semester is a challenge because the calendar moves around (Thanksgiving in the Fall and Easter in the Spring are never in the same place as last year) and because college requirements change. One thing I have never quite understood is why the Academic Integrity Policy , which is foundational to a lot of our work, needs a completely different web address every couple of years. I can understand adding new rules, for example concerning Artificial Intelligence, but why put it in a dfferent place? Anyhow, I think I caught them all. If you click on a link and it doesn’t work, go to our syllabus for the real rules. I am looking forward to the semester. As always, the stress in 102 will be on research and critical thinking—and that is where the real enjoyment lies. I have said it before: start a notebook and star...

During this last month Look carefully at your class schedule. Mistakes happen, and you will find it much easier to correct them in the week or two before classes start. Do a campus walk-through. We are a small campus, but we are still big enough to be confusing. Some buildings are known by more than one name. (A great example is the building our class is in: commonly called Bixler, it’s on the campus map as “14 Bixler Hall; Center for the Humanities (CFHB),” and it shows up in your computer list as “Center for Humanities Bixler.”) Your Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule is different from your Tuesday-Thursday schedule. Walk both of them and actually find the rooms. Get an eye exam. Don’t laugh. At least one student in every section I teach sits in the back, squinting and struggling to see the board. If you need glasses, get them. Wear them. They don’t look weird. ...