Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Conundrum

So everyone, I have a conundrum that you should help me to resolve. In order to graduate I have to take either 4 semesters of a foreign language or another semester of math, either Calculus, Stats, or I think some weird math philosophy class. Not being too particularly fond of math, I decided to take a foreign language, after all, I'm going to be in school for at least 4 semesters anyway. Now here lies the problem. I started taking Japanese, since I had taken it in high school and I had friends who had taken/were taking it and it's a language that might actually be useful. I assumed that I would continue enjoy learning it. The problem is that... I don't, at all. Have you ever done a project where you pick a topic that you really enjoy but by the end of the project you never want to hear someone mention that topic again and you have to avoid it for a while? Japanese is like that for me, except that I can't just ignore it, I have to study it every day for the next 4 semesters, theoretically. So here now are my options: Continue to study Japanese, switch to a new language, or take a math class. So, here's the problem with each situation.

1) Continue to study Japanese
Suck it up and study Japanese for the next two years. Do reasonably well in the class ( I certainly don't have the gift of tongues but I do ok) and try to enjoy it but probably fail.

2) Switch to another language
This would probably be ASL. Have to start over at 4 semesters of study next semester and potentially have to go to school for an extra semester. Get about the same grades, maybe a little better if I enjoyed it. Possible enjoy the language more but no guarantee 

3) Take a math class
Have one horrible semester filled with a subject that I don't necessarily hate but certainly have a strong difficulty understanding. Work my tail off for probably a not that great grade and be most likely extremely frustrated and discouraged for a semester (math and I just don't understand each other. That's why we ended it the first time). Possible repercussions on my GPA for the lower grade I'll undoubtedly get but be done after only one semester. No affect on length of time in school.

So, thoughts, opinions? The add/drop deadline for this semester has already passed so I'm stuck with Japanese for this semester whatever I decide but who knows what I should do next. At least I have a semester to figure it out and who knows, maybe I'll enjoy Japanese again after a while.

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