Nursing school is killing me

[IDKanything]

I worked my behind off to get into nursing school. I have 8 children am 3 months pregnant and my husband had a massive MI last month that left him hospitalized for 2 weeks. Even with all of this going on I am still passing my classes. My problem however is that the instructors treat us like children, they tell us who to partner with, they make us do group activities involving color crayons and tape. And worst of all if you have any opinion that doesn't match their own you will be dragged down to the heads office. There is no let's discus this like adults; it you're losing points. The play favorites and have different rules for different people. I a so disgusted that I am at the point of giving up on my dreams. Is this how it always is or is it just this school? And how do I make it through being treated like a child by the people I pay to teach me

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Crayons and tape??? Are you sure you are in nursing school and not nursery school??

[Red Kryptonite]

Crayons and tape? Is this school accredited? Approved by the BON? I'm trying to get my head around what you could possibly be doing with those materials at that academic level.

PS congrats on your nine children (I wanted to get that in before any snarky comments came in) and sorry about your husband's health problems. It might be that pregnancy and his current challenges force you to step away for a while, and if the program is as you describe, that might be okay and give you a chance to look at others and choose a better one.

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

I'm also dying to know what the crayons and tape are for! I'm all for alternate forms of learning, but I thought that buying crayons for my child through middle school was a bit odd.

As for group projects- get used to them. They are not going away. I am in a phd program and they exist there (and at times the groups are decided for you. As a professor, there is a method to the madness of selection; it fosters group interaction among those who would otherwise not want to work with. At work you don't always get to choose your partners (who you work with in what shift, and in my case committee members and colleagues teaching within my course level). No friends together, placing strong students with weak ones to either. A lance the levels out, or to actually help the weaker ones strive to a higher level.

As for the professors treating you like children: I'll tell you what I tell my teen-ager. Initially, the tone needs to be set as serious. If the teacher comes in the first day all fun and cool, there are many who believe he/she will be "east" and a pushover. That they can come in late, hand in assignments late, call out in class, and such. Sadly, there are always people in the group who need to be treated like children (do you find this to be true of any of your classmates, be honest: you are likely older than some of your classmates, guessing by your family size and situation). Sometimes they cannot help it; they may not have been in an environment where structure was emphasized. While I don't consider myself incredibly strict, I need to set a tone at times that suggest that this is no joke. I have to remind students of this sometimes, especially in clinical (regarding their communication, mannerisms, use of technology, etc). If the teacher lightens the overall mood, there are some who will take full advantage of it.

The thing I really want her (and you) to understand and believe is that he or she may not be directing the condescension at you. She can't say to half the class "you are children" and the other half "you are adults, so I'm not directing this at you". If you are acting like an adult, just ignore it. If you are being treated like a child in a one-on-one situation with her, then you just have to accept that this is the way this person is, and it is not because of you.

[Julesmama28]

I have eight kids too! Congrats on your ninth! I can relate to you, sometimes it seems like we are just jumping through hoops at the mercy of our instructors. However, I am about a month away from graduation and can see the big picture much clearer now. Yes, there is a lot of busy work in nursing school but much of it has taught me invaluable lessons that I needed to learn. I've done 2.5 years of this and I can honestly say I'm grateful I kept going, in spite of all the crap I had to put up with and busywork we did. Keep your head up, observe more than you input and keep plugging along! You'll get there.