Rock Valley College

This comment is negative and offers advice.
It could be that I'm a pessimist and cynic, but I've been told by people that I should really go to a better college or university.

You've got students from RVC at an earlier date who considered it to be a good place. However, the politics are never constant. Recently the college decided to ignore the welfare of the students and shift all academic resources to an off-campus location, which students are not allowed to access except from a computer. In other words, someone decided taking out the library was a good idea. New students have no library to go to for one year, which may be upped because people don't know exactly when construction will be done.

I'm tempted to take a picture and upload it here. The place looks like a prison with wired gates all around. It's somewhat disturbing. They say it had asbestos, but they decided to take that out and take a year to make it look new. I think they could have simply made it look decent or replace things and take out the asbestors... They're something afoot with money and politics.

Students were forced to find other places that were quiet to study, yet RVC has many talkative students that don't care about academics. Of course, you get these people because they've gone through the Rockford Public School system, which does not encourage people to be academically rigorous. In other words, students fail to care about school.

I believe it is the failure of students and the administration to not care about the welfare of learning taking place that makes this a terrible college. I would never go back here, but I have to because of money troubles.

I've seen a lot of funny things, too. One thing that angers students is that fact that a decent restaurant in the "cafeteria" was taken out. It was replaced with Mary's Market, a truly expensive small spot in the student center that charges over five dollars for a small salad. The salads sold by the previous restaurant were much larger and cost two dollars. Many students were outraged by this. Some students will take a vehicle and go to the nearest store, Highlander/Kroger, and buy or make a five dollar salad of reasonable size. Nutrition is probably not possible.

The vending machines don't sell peanuts anymore. However, one vending machine, which sells sesame seeds with high protein and fiber, was moved to the floor where employees, faculty, and the administration are located. It took me a month to tack that thing down. I go to that one for something decent to eat. People keep messing with the students around there, forcing students to think harder and better about obtaining a decent meal. Otherwise, pack a lunch.

However, not a day passes when I don't think about getting a loan and blowing this joint. I'd be gone in a puff of smoke. My GPA maintains above 3.8 after two years. I've been a member of Phi Theta Kappa and other clubs. I believe I have the ability to attend various better pretigious college and universities. Some people stay because of money problems; and I stay because of money problems. I've seen some people who stay because they have plenty of money. These people typically are working the "system" and making good grades.

However, if you want a more serious form of education, you're better off going to a university. Some people drop out of universities because of bad grades and money problems.

The only reason, I believe, a person should drop out of a university is when the person doesn't care about school and is willing to waste money on an expensive, decent, but misused education.

Some people have money and waste it without caring about school; those people should not go to a university. If you care, get out of Rockford.

Something a person should know about this college is that some professors will make students do group work. However, this should be highly ridiculed because students in Rockford are in a social trap that makes them work for money, take care of children, and have other things to worry about. In other words, because people are working on getting out of Rockford, they don't have time to help other students in a group project who care about grades and getting out of Rockford.

You've got a mixed bag of students at RVC. The students can easily blow over group projects because courses are cheap, and dropping out is easy.

You have students that hate Rockford, want to go to college, and yet they have things at home that are more "important."

You have students that hate Rockford, want to learn, and have nothing to stay here for.
If you're a number two student, you would be better getting a loan and leaving Rockford. I've stayed in this city for over 20 years. I've seen that there is less and less offered in Rockford for a person who wishes to excel in this world. Rock Valley College does not offer those who seek power through knowledge a decent curriculum.

I'm not saying the education at RVC is shoddy. I'm saying that its unstable when it asks for students to find a common goal and achieve it. The faculty are really cool when you ask them for knowledge. They are simply pools of knowledge waiting to be slurpped by students. You'd do well to make friends with the professors and learn as much as possible.

However, you do have a small amount professors with the belief that any form of decent teaching is "spoon-feeding" a student. In other words, some professors assign students something, teach them very little to nothing about it, and expect to have the students turn in an excellent, amazing, and profound paper.

There are points when you do self-exploration, but some professors fail to tell students to do self-exploration; some could say this is the weed-out process. You even have English professors who are against teaching because of their paranoid beliefs that you'll steal their writing style. I've had some professors like that and they openly admitted it. They fail to teach students how to obtain their own styles. They simply 'hope' something good will turn out by not teaching students anything useful.

Of course, they also 'hope' that students will learn something from the book and steal the book's style.

Sometimes you have professors that teach prerequisite classes a certain way, and they expect all new students to have that same experience when they come into a higher-level course. For example, some ENG-101 students don't have the same experience that another professor gave her ENG-101 students. When the varied ENG-101 students come to ENG-103, they will encounter a professor who teaches with a totally different pedagogy.

Moreoever, when the professor doesn't believe in teaching to the slightest degree when he or she calls it "spoon feeding," the new students get screwed over and fail to earn a decent grade. You've got a decent amount of these professors who fail to look at the prerequisites of students. Some professors have wars with other professors about finding out how students worked in previous classes, so finding a way to "teach" all students becomes impossible.

There are always politics, bickering, and other with students vs. students, professors vs. professors, and students vs. professors.

You've also got administration fighting everone. Too much arguing. I've even seen English professors commit the 'slippery slope fallacy.' Some professors will use sophistry on students. "I can't offer you extra credit, because I'll have to offer it to everyone if I do that." Hah. I had an ENG professor do that to me once. I didn't know what it was, but if I were to go back in time, my knowledge would start a war with her.

Some professors expect people to have ENG-103 knowledge of creating argumentative papers. For example, you haven't taken ENG-101 or ENG-103, but you are asked to write an argumentative paper in a history class. You think, "What's that?" Some professors fail to acknowledge that some students have no clue as to what such a paper is. Sometimes the professors don't care that the students don't know, and they demand the students do the work regardless of their knowledge. You must know what these type of papers are, however. They are later called thesis papers that people create dissertations on. They're important things, yes. But so many people don't understand them.

I've taken some courses others haven't, so I'll start a war with professors who push this stuff on new students. Professors don't like me around here. I'll nag them about new students and possible knowledge. Heck, I'll teach students more than the professors will. The funny thing is, however, is that once people get a push in the right direction, they end up better than most people. Some professors don't wish to show people the right direction; some professors keep pushing people to the ground and the walls without guidance.

You'll do best to avoid these professors. Otherwise, its suggested that you ask professors about what kind of papers they demand before you ever sign up for their classes. It seems that Rockford education has failed to prepare students for college. It's sad but true.

If you go to this college, expect to get screwed over unless you're following in someone's footsteps. In other words, you take the same classes as someone else took. You act like a spy and obtain information on who a decent professor is, and you obtain information as to why kind of things go on in that class. Some students who have money and follow in people's footsteps easily obtain 4.0s. If you've got an older brother or sister, it's easy to get these grades.

You're basically becoming a spy and partaking in information warfare. That's the best way to get through this place.

You do have professors that do teach. I'm just saying that the amount of professors who don't teach well are few. I assume it's typically the English professors. If you ever have a professor that assigns a type of English assignment, you've got to find an English professor or librarian to help you understand that material. You can visit English professor on office hours. You don't even have to pay the persons. The same thing goes for librarians on working hours.

The success center has tutors who aren't well learned when it comes to English-like assignments. Worst yet, you can't have an English tutor, and certain tutors aren't trained for certain assignments. You've got to find better ways to obtain answers.

Some people simply shoot emails at professors left and right, while getting knowledge to interesting things about the world. It's a nice way to talk to someone, while you pay them of course. I think that's where some students become annoyed with professors. They pay students, and professors work for the students. You'll have to understand that it defeats the purpose of learning if the professor gives you too much information or does the work for you. You'll do better to type out questions and present them to the professor on office hours.

You can really tell these professors are bad when they avoid the students or don't answer emails.
Of course, that brings me to another point. The professors at RVC are often sent across town to teach in another location. These professors are somewhat forced against thier will and are unable to be contacted by students.

RVC-NIU has a partnership that makes a professor go from one place to the next. If you have a car, you'll be able to somewhat follow the professor and meet him or her at the location at a different time; but if you don't have a car, it will be difficult to get somewhere at a certain time.

If a professor doesn't answer your email in two days, go to the professor's office. Remain calm and kind. I've had a professor that always treated me like a criminal. Of course, I did act like a fool in that professor's class. But I remained calm and kind when I spoke to him on office hours.

The professors are intelligent, but some are stuck in their ways to the point that it hurts students. You'll be best to avoid professors who fail to understand students' needs. If you find yourself an intelligent person without someone to talk to, you could go to a professor and keep finding out new information. You could say some professors are like buddies.

Of course, you've got the Internet for that. But professors are typically more credible and accurate about information.

When you're looking to socialize, you've got a lot of clubs around campus. If you want to know people, make some friends, or more, you have college clubs for that.

Don't make a fool of yourself by telling the professor things about yourself. You want the professors to think you're somewhat stupid. They'll grade hard if they think you're smart. You're better off asking intelligent questions and receiving intelligent answers back.

The college is good for talking to professors. It fails to be a decent environment for students to team up because Rockford is a social trap. It has a lot of good sides, but I've even found professors to lack knowledge in biology. It saddened me that I held a professor in high regards, but the professor couldn't answer a question of mine that seemed typical knowledge to many scientists... I wouldn't say all professors know their stuff but some do. However, the librarians are intelligent and they'll guide you if you ask a question. These people are paid to be like researchers. They are like the guardians of the information highway, but among books, databases, and other. They sometimes will give you more information than the professor. I love the librarians at RVC. I suggest you start talking to these persons if the professors can offer you little advice or answers. Trust me. Go the librarians if you seek information and answers. Otherwise, you must visit the tutoring center if you are completely clueless. I only stopped going there when I was more intelligent than the tutors. The tutors are intelligent, but their knowledge of what certain professors are looking for is limited.

It disturbed me when I noticed I was more intelligent than some tutors. I thought, "Oh no. What person shall guide me?" I went to the librarians and the professors.

If you're an intelligent person looking for an intelligent group of person's you're better off going to a university. If you want to save some money, you're better off going to RVC. But you must recognize that it won't help excel your learning in a lot of ways, nor would it be the best experience of your life. I've often held RVC to be one of the few worst experiences of my life.

So what would I say is the overall status of teaching at RVC?I feel that I've often learned more than worked. When I was told to work by some professors, I had learned very little to do the work. Try to make this college a place where you learn more than work. You'll also want to learn while working. Find ways to contact your professors. Always keep in touch. Visit the professors once a week. Visit each one at least once a week with questions. If you don't have questions, make some up. Visiting the professor once a week gets the professor to open up and be more responsive. Show that you care about the topic at hand. You'll also want to pack a lunch.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2007

Extracurricular Activities: A, Education Quality: F