Why is it, these days, when you go on a course, or go to an evening class, or go to anywhere where there is a group of people; you have to introduce yourself and talk a little bit about yourself and tell the rest of the group why you're there, what you're hoping to get out of the course, what your past experiences are, what you've done in your life, etc, etc, etc.
It really annoys me.
If I go on a course or I do an evening class in something that interests me; I do it because I want to be there. I don't do it because I want to find out why everyone else in the class is doing it. I'm doing it because I actually want to learn something. Spending more than half an hour (during a 2 hour class) listening to other people wittering on about why they are there, is of absolutely no interest to me. If I want to find out about their lives I will ask them.
Sometimes when one goes on courses or does classes, one just 'clicks' with the other people. After all I guess we all have a shared interest. And if that is the case, then I am perfectly capable of making some new friends. And once I have made some new friends, then I can find out about all the reasons why they are doing the course.
It does my head in! Why do all course leaders feel the need to do this? Do they think it 'bonds' us to each other? Do they think that because of the time it takes, they will not have to teach us so much? Do they genuinely think this 'sharing of information' will make the learning process better?
And what of the people who do not want to speak in front of a group, but who do want to learn? For people of my age (57 years old) we did not grow up in the era of where we had to do personal presentations at school. If we were shy we could just fade into the background. All this 'public speaking' will surely be scaring a lot of people off. If I had left school at 16 years old because I hated it and hadn't gained any qualifications, and then in my 50s or 60s decided to do an adult education class in something that interested me......................... If someone asked me to stand up in front of the rest of the class and talk about why I was there and what I hoped to gain from the course.............. I certainly would not be coming back the following week.
From a personal point of view, I have had a lot of experience of speaking in front of a lot of people. However, having said that; I find it very difficult to speak in front of a lot of people in a personal situation. I don't want to have to tell everyone why I'm doing a particular course. I don't think it's anybody's business why I have personally chosen to do a particular course. I'm doing the course because I want to learn something or I'm interested in something.
Gone are the days when I am doing an evening class because I'm hoping to meet the 'love of my life'. I remember years ago, I started an evening class in Spanish. After a few weeks I gave it up because I wasn't learning anything and a male friend said, 'Oh well, there's not much point anyway if there's nobody you fancy there'???
Mmmmmmm............................ That wasn't actually why I was doing it. I was doing it because I wanted to go and live in Spain.
I was going to say that I've never, ever done an evening class in the hope of meeting the 'love of my life'.................. But actually, about 30 years ago I applied to do an evening class in car mechanics because I thought it would be a good place to meet men??? Turned out that only 5 girls had applied for the course and it had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers.
BUT years ago, doing an evening class or going on a course through work, was so much simpler. You were there to learn. You didn't have to go through all this palaver of introducing yourself to everyone else and telling them why you were there and what you hoped to get out of the class. You didn't have to evaluate it afterwards either. You just did it. You learnt something. And you left the class feeling that you had actually accomplished something.
And if you had a bit of an informal chit chat with someone while having a coffee break then all well and good.
These days, every single thing has to be evaluated. Why are you doing the course? What are you hoping to get out of the course? What do you think about how the course has been taught? Would you recommend the course? Would you do another course? On a scale of 1-10............................ etc, etc, etc, etc,.
It's enough to put anyone off doing any kind of course ever again!!!
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