Blog Post #6 - Current thoughts about the Master's program

So far, I've been writing blog posts about what the professor has posted. I would read the article and present my thoughts (often in the form of rants) on the problem. With a lack of article to discuss this week, I thought I would talk about my current experiences with the Master's program. After all, this "final" class is all about reflection.

Firstly, my specialization is "Society, languages and culture". My classes have represented these areas quite well, covering topics such as (anti-)racism, sexism (and every other kind of -ism you can think of), some linguistic topics, curriculum and even history and the Canadian narrative.

I have never been a fan of history, but even I will admit that it has been an eye opener for me. There are many topics I never knew (and was never taught in elementary/secondary school). I always thought the past doesn't matter, that we need to look ahead to the future to fix our mistakes. However, I realise now that I've been living under a rock for many years. We cannot move forward as a society without knowing our past. Otherwise, it makes us ignorant.

Although the Master's of Education program is a great way to make us think and reflect on current issues in society and in Education, I don't think it helped me with my teaching, or at least in a direct fashion. Perhaps it helped me socially, how I interact with my students. I don't know why I hoped it would help me more than my B. Ed.. Furthermore, as someone who wants to go into an administrative position further down the road, I think I may have chosen the wrong specialization. That said, I don't think I regret my choice (this specialization still sounds more interesting than the other ones).

What I dislike about the Master's is the amount of writing. Every class ends with a 3500-5000 word paper, about a topic we more or less choose. I initially did not want to do an M.A. Ed. because I didn't want to do research. However, I think I would have been better off doing so for two reasons:

1. I have a paper to use as a reference possibly for the Ph.D (If I resolve myself to do it).
2. The topic would truly be my own as opposed to my Professor's.

Furthermore, all this writing lacks flexibility. Every single paper requires X amount of sources, and MUST be written in such a way. As a person with a unique writing style (and it is different than blog post writing), I like to be creative. However, science dictates we must be concise and straight to the point. It is much too rigid for my taste.

This concludes my current thoughts about my program so far. I will probably have more rants in the coming weeks. Forget winter, the finals are coming.