Community Ed...LOL!

Most of you know I finished by 7-year college stint last summer. It has been so awesome to be done…But I love school. I don’t love the responsibility of homework or getting graded (except when they’re good). But I love sitting there listening to an expert teach me.

Part of justifying my new camera purchase was a self-contract to fully learn how to use it. I didn’t want a new hobby picked up on a whim that lasts for a week – and so far, so good. I took two classes through a camera shop staffed by local pros. They were awesome and purely technical in nature - how to use the camera, what settings are available, how to use them, when, blah, blah, blah.

Last night I took my first community ed class ever. I had researched the instructor beforehand because I was skeptical. She passed my research and I showed up hopeful to learn a few things. Yeah, I was wrong. She spelled basic photography terms incorrectly on the board and kept saying “access” when she meant “axis.” She paced the room trying to find her camera, her marker, her portfolio, her brain. She scanned her notes and made comments to herself like “that’s too complicated for me” (no lie).

Then there were my classmates. I was the youngest person there. Most of the class consisted of suburban moms and grandmothers with 1k-2k cameras that they didn’t know how to operate. I spent more time helping the lady next me than I did listening to the instructor (after I figured out she was a ditz). Oh, and the lady next to me is going to start her own photography business. I recommended a few more classes to her after she told me that.

Here’s the Dean/Tara text exchange mid-class:

Me: Class is full of clueless old ladies.
Dean: Isn’t it community ed?
Me: Yeah.
Dean: Yeah, that’s who goes to those…And you.
Me. Touche

I go back next week with my assignment prints for part 2 of 2 of this class. It took heavy bribing to make Dean agree to being my model for my homework. After next week I will be off to find better, but still affordable, just-for-fun education. I think I found a new place, but we’ll see. Community Ed, you get what you pay for!