commonsensepolice

The worst part of my job

Every job has its good and bad points. My job isn’t horrible. Of course it has moments where all I want to do is scream at someone…but it happens. Yes all the things I don’t like have a big pay off in steady income and health benefits. In this day and age, both are things I know I am lucky to have. I plan to one day be one of those people working from home without being shackled to an 8-5 work day. Yes I get annoyed, frustrated and angry about my job at times but who doesn’t? Really I think it is more healthy for me to vent it out here than to just let the anger build. I rant, I figure out how to deal and I move on.

Here is the actual worst thing about my job: Doing Referral Advising.

Ok here is the deal. To be eligible for classes you have to show you have an ability to benefit from out classes. That means you have to get at least our minimum scores on two of the three parts of the test. I am not an advisor, so theoretically I’m not supposed to be the one to cover this with them. I am supposed to send them to advising and they are supposed to go over the options with the student. On occasion, I still end up having to do the “honors.”
This happens for a couple reasons:
1) They didn’t actually go to see an advisor as told. They just left, and then try to just register. The Registrar’s Office sees the student has a testing hold, so they send the student to us. This is not the Registrar’s Fault. They are under the impression e student has already been told.
2) The advisor just didn’t want to be the bad guy. No one wants to tell someone they did poorly. Sometimes this leads to student not being totally clear about the situation, or worse the advisor is just trying to pass the buck.
3) The student just misunderstood the advisor. This is closely related to the second reason. Sometimes in their efforts to be nice, advising doesn’t exactly drive it home.
This not a “hate on advising” blog…and while yes some of these students are just plain misinformed and confused, in MOST cases it isn’t because the advisor is being lazy. Still someone has to break it down for them, and that person sometimes ends up being me. The student needs to know the testing policy, and their options. They need to know we recommend taking ABE classes before retesting, but they can opt just to review for two weeks before taking the test again. They need to know they only get one retest, and then they have to take ABE, and show proof of competition before they can test again. I don’t have all the materials, but they need to know the facts.
This is not something I enjoy doing. Telling someone they tested so low their skill level is below where I our classes start is embarrassing for them. Our school is already that school “anyone” can get into. Yes fine, everyone who applies is accepted, but you still have to prove that you can benefit from out classes. So while you are accepted, you still might be eligible for classes.

I guess someone has to be the bad guy, but it is better that the student just know.

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