The joys of studying with coelacanths...

[mothwing]

Imagine you want to be an EFL teacher.

What kind of language, do you think, should you be able to speak really well?

And in the requirements for the final exam, which language should be the ultimate, absolute requirement?

Yes, exactly.

Latin.

Some completely reactionary, antediluvian brainless dickhead decided once upon a time that what prospective EFL teachers really need is a sound knowledge of Latin.

Oh, and they "should", "if possible" "have spent three month in an English speaking country".

The level of proficiency required for EFL is higher than the one required for the friggin' Latin teachers. Of course their knowledge should be and is a lot sounder than ours, but it is NOT on the books, they do NOT have to take costly courses to reach the required level of proficiency. Our language requirements are, and we have to pay.

I had been relatively ok with that situation, even the fact that we have to take expensive courses and sit an expensive examination on top of the fees introduced by our darling alma mater to gain that requirement, but what really made me angry was the fact that another completely incompetent dickhead with a pen decided to make some of the language courses free of charge, modern languages a lot of people learn for fun like Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese because there are some people who need them for their courses - but they did not include the fucking Latin courses.

So if you want to spend your holidays on the beach and be able to order your drinks in Spanish the university will happily pay for your course, but if you are forced to reach a medium level of proficiency (the Latinum, in other words, Hamburg still has the small Latinum, the Latinum, and the Big L), you have to pay for that yourself, €100 per course (either three intensive courses or six courses during the semester) plus the fucking fee for the examination at the end.

I want to get hold of the intellectually depleted fossile who decided we need a Latinum instead of a small Latinum - as EFL teachers do pretty much everywhere else in Germany, and of the unthinking idiot who decided to make other courses free of charge and not Latin.
I like Latin, and I would not mind taking the courses and not even the ridiculous amount of extra work if there was sense in that and I would not have to pay for it, if there was some kind of remote sense to it.

Alright. Enough anger, off to see Crocky. ♥

Comments

[dstroyrofworlds.livejournal.com]

Dumb. Assholes. Ineffective. Unfair. Plemplem. Shit.
Honestly, I more and more lose the idea that there is anything really "gebildet" about university and the people there at all.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. Especially the guys in charge of the organisation are... I don't know what went wrong with them. Maybe they should see someone about it, though. They just don't PLAN, and they get confused by large numbers easily. I could do a better job than they do.

[dstroyrofworlds.livejournal.com]

reminds me on one guy that works at the secretary for students.
He is the best example for being unnerved and not caring.
He looks sad, sounds dramaticly bored and his whole impression says "Fuck off!". Actors could learn from him. I guess he can do his job well so this is no real organization issue but how can they let someone work there who makes you feel you really need to confess your sins and do better after talking to him for less than a minute?!?!

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Ooh, we've got the kind of people in similar position. The university sprouts them like mushrooms. Especially the secretary for the German section is un-fucking-believable. His office should be open to the general public every day from 10-12 and from 14-16. Which is not much. He never, ever opens the door, even if he's there, and sometimes he even locks it. It's part of his job to open that door when he's there, so that students can talk to him. Whenever you dare to interrupt because you need your Scheine or your Zwischenprüfung or for similar trifles he looks at you as though you were something found under a rock, says, "One moment," does something, lets you hang around in the door for ten minutes and then asks you what it IS you want, as though what you were interrupting was not him putting down little 'x'es in the online course list, but theories on nuclear physics.

[rizardofoz.livejournal.com]

What dumbasses... I don't even know which college WOULD have Latin courses. I know seminaries would, but that's it.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

They don't, that's another charming detail. They are working together with our evening schools. *dark look*