Summer Classes Often a Sign of Impatience

Once again I find myself teaching a summer class. This summer I am teaching principles of advertising (ADV 3310) at Texas Tech University. This is only fitting, as I often took summer classes as an undergraduate.

While talking to my class the other day, I realized that it has been 9 years since I graduated from New Mexico State. Although that may seem like a long time to an undergraduate, that time has gone amazingly fast.

It truly does seem like yesterday that I was sitting in Breland Hall listening to Dr. Fouillade talk about French culture in a summer class. Where did that decade go?

In hindsight, the sad thing is that I was taking summer classes in order to graduate sooner. We were all in such a hurry then. Some of my best friends graduated with me that May day in 1997. I have not seen several of them since the 1990s. Perhaps we should not have been in such a hurry.

During my first class here this summer, several of the students indicated they were in summer classes to graduate faster. They're in the same hurry. I understand. Tuition is not cheap. There are bills to pay; student loans are mounting.

In the short-term, it is a noble goal. In the long run, however, there's less of a need to be in a hurry. Something about smelling the roses.