(ASU) Major: Appropriate Technology

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Date: Oct 21 2015
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
Major: Appropriate Technology

Me: Mid-forties, male. High level of training and experience in electrical and mechanical systems.

Story: Decided to return to school to study renewable technology at Appalachian State. Quit my job, sold our house and moved to Boone, NC.

The area: Beautiful campus in an equally beautiful area.

The instruction: Some instructors are dedicated and engaging, most are treading water, and a few are just downright poor or lazy. Most classwork programs have little rigor. In some cases, attending class awards the student with points toward class completion. Notably poor was the instructor who didn't know the material because he was using another instructors notes. Couldn't answer any questions regarding the material. His head, a "distinguished professor", did little to rectify this issue. Another instructor hadn't updated his notes to reflect the changes in the text that had been changed twice since his initial class notes, a minimum of 7 years at the time. Fabrication of "knowledge" bubbles up from time-to-time.

The campus: The money flows toward the athletics here. My labs weren't fully stocked nor fully operational and the building had a nonfunctioning climate control system that hadn't worked for more than a year prior to my graduation. Parking is a mess. Forget using the library on football game days unless you can walk to it.

The cost: The price of the degree would be well worth it if one could qualify for more than a blue-collar construction job upon graduation. Don't need a B.S. for that. Billing usually arrives as one or two lines and a total. The school refused to provide a line item style bill. Lab fees would pop-up occasionally with no explanation printed or available as as how they arrived at the amount. Once was made to purchase some items from the school that the students were already to have. Extortion and fraud seem to be an underlying theme here.

Summary: The appropriate technology program is underfunded by the school, has some classes being taught by unqualified instructors, and is incomplete as a tool for those wanting to work in the renewable energy industries. This program only benefits those who derive income from its being. In the end, the program was not worth the time or money spent.

Responses

I thought that this program would be just right if I wanted to work in the renewable energy industry.

Apparently, it's not. But I think this industry is growing today, so it's easier to find a job anyway.

I agree that wind turbine maintenance companies are growing since more people are switching to renewable sources of energy. And I hope that most of them actually use decent wind energy software like https://fluix.io/industry-renewable-energy to automate the workflow because it makes them serve the needs of a client way better.

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