Angela Debellis
Answers to Questions
Spring 2008
How do you like your college life?/ How do you communicate with your teacher?
Queens College is a New York City public college, and part of CUNY. CUNY stands for the City University of New York. Basically, it links many of the colleges in New York City that are public and has a more reasonable tuition than private colleges. This also gives students the opportunity to take classes at other CUNY schools or use their resources like books or libraries to work on a paper. Queens College is a commuter school, meaning that the majority of students travel to school. Many of the students do live in some part of New York City, but there are students that come from other states and there are even international students. At this time we don’t have dorms for the international and long distance students, there is off campus housing and apartments. Queens College is in the process of building their first dorm. There are general required classes for every student, and once students choose a particular area of interest to study, they can major in that subject. Students must complete the requirements that their major departments require for graduation.
Students have a lot of options when it comes to choosing most of their classes. There are classes going on from 8:00am-9:30pm and you can even take classes on the weekend to fit your schedule if you have work or other priorities. For each semester we register for classes on the internet through the school website. We are each given a specific time to register depending on our last name and what grade we are in. The Seniors and Juniors have top priority; since we are Freshmen we are last to chose, and if the initial of your last name is towards the end of the alphabet, then many of the classes you want are full. Many have a back up plan, a list of classes they want and are lucky if they get most of them or else they have to try again next semester.
This semester I am taking five classes: English, Biology, Math, Urban Studies, and World Studies. Urban Studies deals with the issue of poverty and World Studies discusses and debates about historical issues. Two issues that we have discussed are the succession issue with the Wanli Emperor in China and the French Revolution. Both English and World Studies are connected, meaning that the teachers of each class talk to one another and the topics relate in each class, and the same students are in both classes. When classes are connected it is called a community. Either two or three classes are placed together like this and students must take them together. This is offered to freshmen so that in at least two classes there are the same students and it helps you adjust to college life. I like that both classes are somewhat connected and related, because in World Studies we have to work together a lot and this becomes much easier when we have English together as well.
In English class we use something called Blackboard, connected to the school’s website where our teacher posts homework and we can email her or other classmates. Also, we can post things that we can discuss in later classes. We get a list of our assignments ahead of time for homework so we can prepare them and hand them in, and discuss them in class on the due date. Through the school website we have access to databases with news articles and journals from around the world that help us with research and homework. Depending on your teacher, grades are posted throughout the semester which helps your academic progress.
I enjoy college life because there are many different types of classes you can take and at different times, depending on your availability. By meeting new people, students can get involved by going to clubs and student activities. There are ethnic clubs, clubs that deal with current issues like helping the poor or the environment, and even clubs for interests like history or science. All these things help make college a unique experience and college life is different from any type of schooling I had before.
When do you think you’re completely independent from your parents?
The question of when do you think you’re completely independent from your parents can be answered in a variety of ways. I believe that a number of factors has to be considered before you’re completely independent. I think the main thing is if you are able to support yourself with a job, a place to live, food, be able to pay your bills and still have money left over for other necessities. Most people think that before this step you must finish school to get a degree so you are able to make a career for yourself. I also believe you need a steady job to be independent. There are many people who live on their own, but their parents still pay for everything. I don’t consider that being independent even though you live separately from your parents because they are technically still supporting you.
A person must be financially independent and take care of his or her finances. But besides money people have to be completely responsible for themselves, including how they conduct themselves and to know there are consequences and to act more mature. A common practice in the U.S. is after you finish school, you move out of your parents’ house. Also, it is common that people live together before marriage which I am not sure is done in China. I work basically for spending money, but I still live with my parents and they pay for my school. Though I am able to do things for myself and have some form of independence from my parents compared to a young child, I believe I am not completely independent from my parents.