When I first moved to Chico, I thought maybe I could take some courses at the State University here. So I went to the admissions office and asked if I could take courses without registering for a degree. I'm 61 and retired, so I don't need a qualification. They said I could join an elder's program, but I needed to go to a different office, and was given a map to it. I'd got turned around on the way to their office, and it was a cloudy day, so I asked which way North was. The person who had handed the map didn't know, and asked the entire office. No one answered. After a long embarrassing pause, I asked if they were all new. "No, we've all been here at least two years," one answered.
So I figured out how to get to the second office. The same thing happened there, as it did at the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth offices. The sixth office told me to go back to the first office, so I gave up. I've since come to appreciate most Americans don't want to take university courses simply to learn something, and my request was extremely rare on its campus of 16,000 students.
As I was walking back to my car, I reasoned, maybe they just all thought me stupid, because all students usually know which way is North. it was some kind of open enrollment day and a crowd of about 70 prospective students were getting a campus tour. So I was bold enough to stop them for a moment and ask them all to point to the North. Not one of them could. Not even the tourguide.
I have a couple of observations to add. This is a phenomenon of the information age. In prior generations, people needed to know where the sun rose and set to get their bearings, but with our noses buried in computers, most people don't even care that much any more. Second, from terms of maps, there is a physical north, defined by compass, and a 'virtual north' defined by city road grids. In Chico the grid is alongside a freeway. which in most city maps is shown running Northwards, although it actually follows the California coastline and runs NorthWest. It may be this difference is too confusing for people who don't want to take University courses unless it's for a degree.
Anyway, after several dozen attempts to find the University's elder's program, I finally figured out what I needed to do, and offered to pay half a million dollars for a new student housing which would give honors students a place to live for free. I was immediately told how much donation to their existing programs would be appreciated, during which I asked about the elder's program, found out that's actually what it's called, and was able to find the website. The university had no interest in doing anything to help me set up a new student housing even though it was closing its own dorms due to covid. I was repeatedly requested to donate the money to their own programs. And the elder program was shut down, because of covid. So I still haven't been able to take a course.
If you want to help student by making charitable donations, I suggest you do what I did. I called my high school, which was in the UK, and gave it to them. They are building a new gymnasium. No bureaucratic problems at all. Not one. Also they asked me to a ball.
And my actual experience could be a real reason why State Universities are so abysmal these days. Just a thought.
Wishing you a nice day.
Submitted September 07, 2021 at 04:21PM by emeyer4444 https://ift.tt/3yS7dGI
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