Institutional Ineptitude

So, some folks here know that I'm retired from the military after 20 years and attending college full time.

I'm just about done with my 3rd semester and have about 2 more to go for my Bachelors in Emergency Management.

I'm a generally sharp guy so it's going pretty smoothly with minimal brain pain so far.

Until yesterday.
My last history class needed for my degree plan is US history 1877 to the present. Literally the biggest joke of a class I've had so far.

The professor is constantly late or cancels class at the last minute minute with little to no explanation. Routinely makes stuff up and changes assignment instructions on a whim.

All the actual graded course work is online modules. Yet I have to go to class twice a week where she rambles on about her personal pet projects and books and nonsense that no one cares about and have no bearing on the course work.

This overpaid useless "professor" decided we need to use a lock down browser for our final exam this semester.

This in itself is fine, I don't care. The class is a joke. However, out of 17 classes I've taken so far this is the only one where I needed the lock down browser. Consistency would be nice.

But I had to change my password to be able to log in through the lock down browser which caused some kind of error and I've now been locked out of everything since about noon yesterday.

Now I'm behind on 2 exams and will have to do 3 tomorrow, and maybe 4 on Thursday if they don't get their crap together.

All because this lazy half assed professor had to be special with her final exam for her BS history class.

This is pretty much par for the course for this school. It took about 8 months to get registered initially when I was getting ready to retire because they are so administratively incompetent.
Now I'm at a day and a half waiting on their IT folks to reset a password.

It's driving me to drink.

With your degree choice I can only imagine things getting worse after graduation.

I hope they get things sorted out soon for you!

a reply to: nugget1

Ha ha, yeah. I'll be avoiding FEMA like the plague.

I'll be looking for somewhere like a hospital campus or sports complex.

A good city or county would be alright too.

a reply to: watchitburn

Wait until you have your degree and then sue her panties off.

You have time now to gather evidence, videos of her classes.

Nest egg for you?

P

a reply to: pheonix358

I'm not that kind of person. I'll be happy to forget she exists this time next week.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: nugget1

Ha ha, yeah. I'll be avoiding FEMA like the plague.

I'll be looking for somewhere like a hospital campus or sports complex.

A good city or county would be alright too.

Oh you'll find it hard to avoid FEMA, at least for the training certs. You'll probably need to have trainer certs or bring in FEMA trainers depending on the size of the operation you're looking to work with. I'd think that some of the higher level trainings would be baked into the curriculum.

Your military training will make those courses a breeze for the most part. Incident command system is pretty much borrowed from military principals I believe. Our local EM also runs the dispatch center for all the various services and I think he's run Search and Rescue for a while.

Very interesting job and I found working under the EM umbrella the part of public health that was most engaging. Until the irrational COVID response I was going to transition to a full-time emergency preparedness position, but it's no longer a job I'd get into on the public health side. It seemed to me that once you got beyond regional management within the states the people involved got further and further detached from reality.

As for the OP topic, yes. Institutional entropy has been happening from the highest sectors of government down to the people that take out trash as McDonalds for two decades. I'm sure older members will say it's been longer than that, but it sure has seemed to accelerate.

ETA: Good luck on the tests. Any EM operation will be fortunate to have an experienced and level-headed person like you at the helm.

Maybe it's a secret hidden exam to see how you react to an emergency situation with people who should be in charge but aren't.

And you must take control of the situation by going straight to the I.T. department and saving YOURSELF armed with a box of donuts.

Or at least try to use your human voice on a telephone, not just another email or text message about a problem on a list from people who don't appreciate the I.T. department enough.

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Don't Panic
Just Rant
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a reply to: Ksihkehe

Yeah, I already have most of those FEMA certs. Some of them I've had for 10+ years.

None of this is rocket surgery. It's just tedious nonsense that the educational system subjects us to

a reply to: nerbot

I could only hope it was such an intracate web for my benefit.

Unfortunately, it's just more of the same BS as always.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: nugget1

Ha ha, yeah. I'll be avoiding FEMA like the plague.

I'll be looking for somewhere like a hospital campus or sports complex.
A good city or county would be alright too.

ETA. Should have kept reading. Nevermind on my response. You answered it. LOL

Have you had to take any FEMA classes and get certified yet?
Back when I was in school, for one of my degrees I had to take a Homeland Security class which involved getting FEMA certified. While, I learned things on how to MANAGE an emergency situation - it was a joke class....probably because FEMA is a joke in most cases.

Speaking to the topic, this seems to be school wide - from lower schools to various colleges/universities all over.

I had an English type class I had to take - you know, the required BS class - and my professor was never around. And then tried claiming, I had not turned in half of my work. I failed the class because of this. I had to take screen shots and more and prove to the head of that dept that he was a dumbass and did not know the very technology he was using to 'teach'. I won my 'case' but of course, it took a really long time to get to the end of it all.

It's always something or another....PITA.

a reply to: shaemac

Not yet, though there are some Homeland security classes I will have to take.

But I've been doing those forever. They're more of a check in the box type thing

a reply to: shaemac

I've been lucky on that front.

My English professor was an Iraqi guy. We got along great though.

His classes were only painful because he liked to read everything to us while he emphasized the wrong syllables and parts of sentences.

But otherwise he was cool.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: pheonix358

I'm not that kind of person. I'll be happy to forget she exists this time next week.

And ... that is why this # show continues.

Can't be bothered to fix things.

Do it for all of the students who will come after you.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

1. I'm not an attorney.

2. What exactly would I sue over? Ideally every class would require a lock down browser, they just don't.

I'm comfortable in my assessment that any legal proceeding ls for this inconvenience would be quickly thrown out.

Especially in the leftist sh!t hole that is Harris County

a reply to: watchitburn

"....folks here know that I'm retired from the military after 20 years and attending college full time. I'm just about done with my 3rd semester and have about 2 more to go for my Bachelors in Emergency Management."

Sir? I did not know. Thank you for your service to us all and Emergency Management as a choice! Youre just goin thru the same we all went thru 1 way or another. Crazy at times? Yes. Life and Death. Hysterical a lot of the times as well!

What youre doing is impressive. God bless, dont give up. Best always. Sounds like youll fit in!

**Sorry Ive digressed from your O.P. but, Thanx.

MS, Emergency Management, (Retired) City of Dearborn, MI

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: nugget1

Ha ha, yeah. I'll be avoiding FEMA like the plague.
...

I see what you did there.

LOL

This class was such a waste of time.