By Doug Vehle, The Daily Bosco
So
it had been one infuriating day when I witnessed the joke of 'What did
one fast food worker say to the other?' What he said was that his friend
". . . .Is a grandfather now. His boy just had a 1 1/2 year old."
The
other didn't seem to question the idea that the child came into this
world having skipped the first 18 months of his life: I assumed the
ready acceptance of this by both parties helped explain why they were
still working their fast food jobs when they, too, looked old enough to
be grandfathers. Normally to accidently be present for such an exchange
I would find amusing, this was just the sort of mindlessness I'd been
facing on this day.
And on this occasion, it had indeed
been a level of criminal mindlessness I was subjected to. What was
meant as my effort in some additional education turned into a surprise
investigation into law breaking, leaving me to feel like the late Mike
Wallace, catching another conman in the act and saying his name followed
with ". . . .COME ON!"
So I'm looking for another Associate in Arts degree. Or two.
With
my current interest in electric vehicles I've been thinking the best
way to learn about electric circuitry would be through the Physics
program. As I've been enrolled at Cerritos College learning plastics, I
thought that would be the place to keep going to school. After all,
Cerritos is the home of a Plastics program that offers a one page
summary of every class offered.
In addition to TWO
defined degree plans (On paper so you can have a copy) for a well
rounded education in plastic, there are individual certificates (Also on
paper) for the specialites in plastics for those who only seek to
learn, say, composites, fiberglass, materials and process, industrial
design, all of which I have either completed or will complete as the
remaining classes become available. As long as I'm there waiting for the
next offering, I can also study Physics.
I wouldn't
expect the Physics program to be so carefully organized as Plastics
turned out to be; good thing I didn't. They did manage to provide
information on what classes covered AC/DC circuits, as well as how to go
ahead and complete a two year degree on the subject. As one would
reasonably expect.
The problem came with math.
You
see, there are three levels of Calculus and Analytic Geometry classes
required for these Physics classes. Prior to taking the first it is
required to take PreCalculus, before that Trigonometry. Fine, I just ask
one thing: Since I have to take more than 18 units of math, more than
is required of the major in most community college AA degrees, I want
that Associate in Arts degree in Mathematics. Not much to ask, right?
Certainly I should expect I'd never be asked an accusatory
"WHATDOYOUWANTTHATFOR?" Literally, as though there's something
suspicious about my trying to graduate.
I remember how
well prepared the Fullerton Community College catalog was. There really
wasn't a need to see a counselor. Owing to to the variety of schools a
student might be planning to transfer to, the requirements remained
relatively open, just take 18 units from the offerings. There might be a
specific class or two required, after that, just take what you need and
leave the rest. How lovely it would have been if only Cerritos College
was so well prepared. Or is it that they should be so open?
I'm
left to feel I've been trying to learn something top secret.
All I want to know is, 'What classes am I required to take to complete
an AA degree in math?' Is there, say, some pet class they require of
everyone? Statistics? College Algebra? I already have a Bachelors
degree, this should be easy.
I'm very good at math,
growing up I always had the top score nationally in the math portion of
the aptitude tests at school. When my point total of maybe 40 put me in
the 99th percentile, it meant that at least 99% of those taking the
test had less than that 40 right. This was an annual result for me, I'd
been growing up expecting to study math and physics in college until my
Mother, as always, set out to destroy everything by sending me to a
private school with teachers who spoke little English and had little
education themselves. My outlook on life changed dramatically, but
that's another story.
I really lost interest in taking
any more math classes at the time.
Math, though, really isn't a problem for me. There's quite a bit of it
in Television production. One second of video is made up of 30 frames,
unless you're editing with time code for broadcast, then it's 29.97
frames per second. You're going to be dropping some frames from your
total here and there, hence the term "Drop frame editing." And when
you're directing live television you're working from a rundown that
totals your segments to exactly 60 minutes to the hour, not 59 and a
half or 60 minutes and 12 seconds. At perhaps 27 minutes and 55 seconds
into the hour you can expect a "Hard time break." You will be out of the
show and into the commercials so they'll be over at 29:55, with only
the :05 second title bump as leeway, starting the 30:00 segment of the
show right at 30:00 and getting ready to do it again at 57:55. Or
whatever format is in use. That's not even counting some of the
electronic tuning of the equipment the more capable of us would do.
I've
proven I can handle math, how nice it will be to prove noone has any
business questioning that. We're living in an age when people feel free
to question everything not because there's reason to question, but
because they like creating problems.
So why am I
finding such troublemaking questioning when I try to learn how to get
this AA degree in Mathematics? The catalog makes a vague statement about
taking "Common classes." So does the college website. The department
tries to discourage me from graduating. The teacher I was sent to talk
to told me I should just go talk to the department I want a degree from,
to which I responded. "I AM talking to the department I want a degree
from." He'd rather I went after a 4 year degree while never graduating
from his department. That's his problem.
My problem
is: I'm being left to feel as though I've kicked the door in on some
underworld figure, pointed the camera at the law breaker, then began
channeling Mike Wallace as I say ". . . .COME ON!" Indeed, in the State
of California this is crime in progress as they continue to refuse to
tell me.
Cerritos College Mathematics department, COME ON!
Afterall,
they are in violation of S.B. 1440, signed into law on September 29,
2010. The bare bones of the legislation ". . . .Requires community
colleges to grant an associate degree . . . once a student has met
specified general education and major requirements for the degree. . .
beginning the Fall 2011-12 academic year." The law of the State of
California, where the funding comes from. Oops. I guess I'm not the only
one who's encountered a problem with people just doing their job as
they know they should already be doing WITHOUT there being a law
requiring they do the right thing. But having the law doesn't seem to be
helping.
It's hard to understand why there would even
be any resistance. Mathematics is a department that offers many classes
required for other programs, such as Physics, yet there is also a great
shortage of Math degrees, according to the Simons Foundation nearly 40
percent of all high school math teachers do not have any math related
degree. Just an AA would be an improvement. Merely a two year degree in
Mathematics is listed as a qualification for some well paying jobs that
are hard to fill even in the current economy. Yet so limited is the view
of the Cerritos College Mathematics department that, since they have
Masters degrees and don't see a 2 year degree as meaningful, they can't
be bothered to comply with S.B. 1440 as is curently required and allow
students to graduate.
Cerritos College Mathematics
department, COME ON!
It would be a non Television job, but if I went to work for this one
company I guess I'd be working steady. There's other things I've dreamed
of being around, in this case it's auto racing. The talk to them has
only been friendly until now, they always love racing fans. Suddenly the
idea of my having a math background to go with the plastics has caught
their interest. They point out an extension program at Cal Polytechnic
Pomona covering Finite Element Analysis, the kind of thing they'd be
wanting me to help out with. Can I really consider such a move?
Not
without my AA in Mathematics, it would seem. Cerritos College
Mathematics department, COME ON!
Before you start with the same tired advice so many are givng me, keep
in mind I've amassed quite an education WITHOUT seeing a counselor. I
picked up my initial AA in Broadcasting and completed all my general
education at Fullerton College, setting up for a Bachelors degree in
English and a minor in Theatre Arts from Cal State Fullerton. A 2 year
degree in a different subject than your 4 year degree is an excellent
way to a diverse education.
I didn't have the $20,000
for the complete graduate program in Film at UCLA or the $50,000 so many
spend on the thesis film, but I did get to take classes, including the
legendary madman Mryl Schreibman and the classic free thinker James
Hosney, their most notable teachers at the time.
With
the up and down nature of television leaving me with some free time for
volunteer social work I went back to Fullerton College to pick up an AA
in Sociology. Prior to my accident and leg injury I'd earned an AA in
Administration of Justice while planning for reserve law enforcement,
then went on to an AA in Education while getting ready to teach
Television. Without needing to talk to anyone about it. Of course all
those came at schools with a better school catalog than Cerritos
College.
I've even been completing the certificates in
Plastics, good thing the head of their department is so well organized
with everything in print. I don't have to actually ask what I need,
though he's quick to tell anyone who does ask. So why is the Mathematics
department working harder to get out of doing their job, as LEGALLY
REQUIRED, than it would be to just do their job?
But the lack of organization elsewhere extends to the counseling. In
this case in a more sinister manner.
I'm told by the
woman at the desk, I suppose a student with an on campus job, to "Sit in
the chairs along the wall outside the door." This was in conflict with
the posted signs, leading me to ask: She became hysterical in response.
After an hour as the ONLY person sitting in the chairs along the wall,
she comes out the door and angrily announces she's only letting in the
people in the OTHER row of chairs. When I remind her that, not only did
he insist that the chairs along the wall were the right chairs, she
starts pointing at the signs I had asked her about and shouting "Can you
read the signs?" I answered just as loudly "I can hear you speak when
you CAN'T read the signs."
But this has more to do with
the fact I was the only nondark skinned student there when the dark
skinned racist was workng the desk without the proper supervision. In
this case there were federal laws she was breaking. Needless to say, I
haven't been able to learn if the counseling department knows anything
about the Mathematics degree, thanks to their failure to properly
control their racism within.
Cerritos College Counseling department, COME ON! Yet another expose. . . .
So
I've been up to have a look at the Physics department at Mount San
Antonio College. Lovely new building. I was there the day when one of
their students who'd transferred to the same UCLA Physics Department
where my Father did PhD studies came to speak about being involved in
research on Dark Matter. A current student asked a question that
referenced Dark Energy as a residual from the Big Bang and went on in
arcane detail about what he wanted to know, leading the speaker to ask,
almost in shock, how he knew to ask about this. (The answer was that a
teacher the speaker well recognized had an aside about it one day in
class.)
As well as being published on page 99 in the
catalog, you can read about the Mathematics degree requirements by going
to MtSAC.edu, then clicking on academic programs. Then you get to
choose between a link to the catalog online or the Natural Sciences Math
link that offers a 'Mathematics Course Sequence,' to learn that all
I'll need is 18 units of the listed classes, no more than two from the
computer scequence, with all my prerequistes for Physics counting and
totalling 20 units, an entire Math major in itself. And yes, those would
be considered the "Common classes," as I kept pointing out to Cerritos
College. (COME ON!) If I must leave Cerritos for my math, I will leave
for Physics, also.
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